Rebirth of the Lycans
by werewolfvampirelove
Summary: A companion to "Evolution," while Selene and Michael are fighting Marcus and William, Lucian is not actually dead, but in hiding and mourning Sonja. He meets a beautiful mortal, Maya, who heals his pain. R&R! Not sure of the rating, it's borderline T/M
1. Preface and Ch1 Endings

**Preface**

Love can cripple. We promise ourselves we won't let love cripple us, and it's frowned upon in society if we do. No one is worth such pain, we say, and we should be whole enough on our own to be able to survive it. But when it's deep, true love, love cripples.

I'd been through a lot of bitter trials in my life, especially in the love department. A lot of close seconds that I thought were potential for true, life-altering, soul-shifting, earth-shattering love. But they weren't. A few boyfriends, a few romantic acquaintances, a divorced husband and subsequent lost custody battle, a dead musician lover. I was pushing thirty, and had no will to fight anymore. No will to fight for anyone.

Or so I thought.

I wasn't about to stand there helpless as the last shred of hope for love I had left was about to die. The enemy's bloodlust was almost overpowering as he held the silver dagger over my savior's heart. A shriek of fear, agony, and rage shredded through my vocal cords, ripping through the silence and echoing through the cavernous room as I lunged forward with all of my strength and speed. Not him. **Not him.**

Love can cripple, as can fear. Love can also empower. I was just as bloodthirsty. There would be hell to pay if Viktor's bloodlust won over mine.

"LUCIAN!"

**Chapter 1- Endings**

I restlessly threw my large Sudoku book to the floor. It wasn't that I couldn't solve the puzzle. It's that I couldn't_ concentrate_ enough to solve it. Every time I sat down to work on it I heard his words, his lyrics- his voice. So many bits and pieces of his soul could be found in the words and lyrics. _Emery's dead, Maya. He was in a car crash last night. I tried to call you but your cell phone was busy. I couldn't get through. What the hell were you doing anyway?_

I had been fighting with Alex about Misha, as always. That's what I was doing. I had been fighting _for _her, rather. The custody battle had not ended well all of those years ago. I had recently graduated and hadn't found a job yet, as there were no German translator jobs out in the job market post- 2007 recession. I was deemed unfit on a technicality. I had no job, so how could I raise a two-year-old little girl? So he won the custody battle, hands down. Full custody. It was around that time that The Odd Men Out came back to town, back in 2011, and I met Emery for real that fateful December. I found it bitterly ironic that around that time five years before, I had first become a fan. But that night, I was single again, and I ended up sharing more in common with Emery than I could have ever hoped for. And I had loved him more than I had ever believed was possible. And he had loved me back more than I thought was even fathomable. It had been a cruel twist of fate- and car metal- that had bereaved me of him forever. It would have been an unstoppable tragedy, but nonetheless I had lost my chance to see him one last time. He would not have held it against me, had he known the reason. None of the members of the band did either. And I didn't hold it against Misha. She was the one other fight in this world worth fighting for anymore. But Emery was gone, the memories weren't, nor was the pain. It was still raw and grinding as ever, pushing and carving away at what was left of my iron-cold heart, hardened over time. And Maya, the only other fight worth fighting for, was lost on me. She was stolen from me just as cruelly as Emery had been.

_It's just- whatever._ I sighed. Whatever. C'est la vie. I stared right past my coffee cup, past the patio and the umbrella, and past the lawn chairs to my back neighbor's house, the shades drawn as usual. What the hell? It was always like that. I was probably bitterer than he was, yet here I was outside and somewhat approachable. Actually, that was probably as blatant as a lie anyway. I had a permanent scowl fixated on my face. But at least I didn't keep the shades drawn day after day. I tried to let as much sunlight in as I could, hoping to soak up the sun in all of its glory and happiness; in hopes of finding healing through its sunlight. Well, everyone has their bad days, and today it wasn't working. A shadow passed by the drawn shade of the back window, presumably the kitchen, and the lone figure seemed to be hunched over as it passed, staggering slowly with a hindered gait. This pulled my frown lines deeper into my face, as a familiar pain passed through my heart in addition to the constant one- sympathy, maybe even empathy. Whatever pain the figure was in behind the veil ever present over his house, I felt it too. It looked as real and deep as mine, and the thought of anyone hurting as badly as I caused the second pain to ripple through me in waves of pity and agony. Whenever I saw any indication of deep pain in anyone, I felt it too. I recognized the body language as well in others as I did in myself. I understood fully in that moment why his shades were always drawn- he had lost someone too. I dared not venture to the house behind me though. I knew all too well also that approaching the pained was not the right response. They'd reach out when they wanted to be reached out to. Until then it was best to let them wallow in their own pain. I understood this concept very well, and respected it, and his wishes. I also had a new definition to the word "wallow." It had a negative connotation to me still, as grieving and wallowing mean suffering deep pain, but it didn't seem pathetic to me. When people talk of others wallowing it was often with disgust, as though going through the motions of pain wasn't respectable or dignified, and it was meant to be buried and concealed as the person pushed through each day. I didn't see it that way. I didn't see it as pathetic or in need to be concealed or ignored. I saw it as necessary to wallow. I hoped it meant his pain would actually go away faster if he did. Pushing back feelings was just poison to the soul. I knew my heart was gone, but my soul would heal at least, and I'd be able to function again someday.

But today I would not function. Today I would sit outside and wallow in my own way. I snapped out of my reverie as I saw the shade to the kitchen lift just an inch, and a pair of eyes momentarily peeked out at me and my lowered head, and my slouched shoulders. The eyes narrowed ever so slightly, not in animosity or irritation, but seemingly in understanding, and perhaps also in empathy, reading my body language just as I had read his shadow's posture a moment before. Indeed, then, he suffered the same pain as I. He also knew how to recognize the pain in others, and he had read mine in an instant. He paused for a moment, holding my startled but intent gaze with an understanding softness, and then slowly drew the shade back down. I sighed, and stirred my coffee in desolation with my index finger. It had grown cold over my time spent outside. I picked up my abandoned and abused Sudoku book off of the wooden slats where it had fallen, apologizing to it internally for its undue flight to the ground at my hand and rage, and went inside to my kitchen to dump my coffee out into the sink, and put my favorite Starbucks mug into the dishwasher. I leaned forward against the sink toward my window to the backyard, gazing again in puzzlement and minute interest at my mysterious neighbor's house. It seemed so weird that two grieving people should become neighbors. Perhaps it was fate, that we might be two hurting people in proximity of each other for support. Or perhaps we'd never encounter each other again; despite our obvious understanding in that brief moment our eyes had met. Perhaps that one brief moment of kinship would be all we'd need to carry on again, stronger than before. While I seriously doubted that, still feeling the stabbing wound in my heart, I held on to the smallest shred of hope that perhaps that one glance of sympathy would heal me.

Just then a magnificent pendant caught my eye, made of some type of precious metal, with gorgeous deep blue-green stones set in the middle. The chain hung delicately off of a hook fastened under the roof, away from where precipitation could touch it. How strange though, I thought, that he would still leave it subjected to weather changes and frost and such. But I didn't think about it much further. I simply wondered what its significance was, and why it was there. And then I wondered why I cared. I relocated to the great room, lighting a single lavender candle on the wood and glass coffee table, and curled up on the leather couch under a fleece afghan, drifting off to a dreamless and restless sleep in the early evening sunlight. I breathed in the comforting scent, the heaviness of grief and sleep causing my breath to enter and escape my body in irregular shudders.


	2. Rabid

**Chapter 2- Rabid**

Jarring. Completely jarring. I'd been suffering from the effects of my anecdote rushing through my blood when I'd caught sight of her. The sun had caught her hair in every facet, every microscopic crevice, bend, and shred, shattering into refractions of red, brown, rust, and the occasional blonde strand. It was maddening that I'd even noticed any of that, considering what had predominantly caught my attention- first, that _she_ had noticed _me_ and seemed to perceive the pain_ I_ was in, and second, that she seemed to be in some resemblance of my pain. I had felt an instant kinship with her pain, and I wished to show her compassion and empathy for what she felt, but I also didn't wish to be feeling for two. I couldn't bear to take on and shoulder another's pain in addition to my own, as selfish as that is. Centuries later, I was still harboring the deepest and worst emotional pain an immortal should have to suffer, and additionally I was suffering from the anecdote, searing through my veins and altering my DNA. I wanted to be mortal again. I wanted to die. I'd seen all I'd needed to see of life. My Sonja was gone. My kind, the Lycans, and the vampires were still at war; the hybrids caught dangerously in the middle, hated by all, and would always be. There was nothing left for me here. I would live out the course of my life, whatever that would be, once my DNA was altered back to that of a human being's. I would pick up from where I'd progressed to in human form, and allow my life to fade out naturally. I would shrivel up into an old man's frame, and welcome the grave when my time at last came. It was out of character for me to succumb to helplessness, but I had simply had enough, and it pained me to watch Selene and Michael together. Not because I loved Selene or begrudged her and Michael their love, but because it pained me to see a vampire and a lycan, even a hybrid, together. It reminded me too much of a forbidden and dangerous love affair of my own. It reminded me of my dead love, and of our unborn offspring that I would never know, see, or name. It reminded me the union of two worlds that would never be bonded, and the justice and retribution that would never be brought to those who deserved it more than clemency.

I slammed my fist against the granite countertop, and took in a few slow and labored breaths. When I was this deep in my grief, I had to fight with my entire being to not transform thinking of Sonja and the raw anger her unjust death still brought forth. I forced myself to think of something, anything, that I found even remotely pleasant. Such things were rare in this world to me, but the decadent sight of the girl in the late afternoon sun soothed me as I struggled to forget Sonja and breathe through the raging potion that burned like a white flame through my core as my entire body slowly morphed. I thought of the sensations my visions of her created within my soul. Warmth. Not like this burning pain, but rather a soothing, calm, beautiful warmth. The warmth of life. The warmth of good memories. The warmth of love. The warmth of acceptance. The warmth of coexistence. Coexistence, hah. The word ran bitter through my memories, and a rage with the taste of metal filled my mouth as my memories suddenly shifted back to Viktor. Perhaps thinking of acceptance and coexistence was not the right realm of thought to let my mind wander through right now. I focused on the surprisingly lovely face I had beheld on the patio behind me, and felt my nerves relax, and then my sinews. The anecdote was easing off now. In another month's time, I'd be human again; I'd be mortal. I could finally die. I glimpsed at Sonya's pendant dangling outside my window- my sole reminder of why I wanted to be mortal and give this immortal life up forever. It was a life not worth living without her. It was an unjust and cruel world, ruled by unfeeling Death Dealers.

As the anecdote had begun to take further effect, I'd been able to eat more and more regular food, like humans ate, though I preferred just meat. Cooked, but not basted in anything, not seasoned, not with any side vegetables. Just beef, or just chicken, etc. was enough for me. As I made myself a steak for my dinner, I had decided to try some grains tonight on the side, so I made a little pasta. To my surprise and pleasure, the taste was most desirable and satisfying. I had already made a closer advancement towards becoming human. I was evolving.

The trouble with becoming human was that I had nothing to bide my time with. I had been so used to plotting against Viktor and his henchman, and so preoccupied with the vision I had for Lycans everywhere, that I hadn't had much time for trivial hobbies, even in this modern world full of recreational activities. Now that I had denied myself my former life, I found each day a vast expanse of emptiness. Nothing was meaningful enough to fill my time, but time was such a long strand of life to fill. I spent a lot of time teaching myself how to play a game called Chess, but it was hard to learn the game and form a repertoire of strategies without an opponent to play against. I also had no desire to interact with another mortal. Though I was certain plenty of them were not vapid drones, I was equally as sure that none had endured what I had, and I had been around for centuries of time compared to the mere decades a mortal would endure, but not suffer. There was no common ground or experience that any mortal could possibly share with me. And so, I condemned myself to isolation. The isolation wasn't entirely what I desired, but I simply couldn't envision myself finding any sort of meaning in the world I'd exiled myself to. I felt completely despondent as I sat down at a small, round wooden table in the dining room in a lone matching chair, moving pawns around the board to put a king in check. I felt like a pawn myself, and Viktor the untouchable king. And yet the king had a weak spot. It was so easy to find in Chess, but with Viktor it was nearly impossible. Even his own daughter, and Selene, the vampire who was very much in Sonja's likeness, weren't weak spots enough for the tyrant. I stared down at the board with no real desire to "play" the game tonight. I picked at a square here and there, back and forth between black and white, moving pawns one square at a time, not even touching the rooks, bishops, etc. It was useless. I sat at the table in complete silence, completely still, until darkness fell, never taking my eyes off of one of the middle black squares. All I could do was think, despite my best efforts. At least the anecdote's effects had worn off for the day, until I took the next vial tomorrow. I had been emotionally defeated yet again, as thoughts of Sonja, and Selene and Michael together, began to haunt me. I feared for what would happen to the two of them. I feared that they would die as my love had. I feared Michael or Selene would end up alone for eternity, fighting the bitter pain that I did. Neither one deserved it; they were both good- pure, and designed to love above all else. Their loyalties lay with each other, first and foremost. Where did my loyalties lie now? To myself, I supposed. Sonya had always been my first priority, and after her death the lycans and their freedom were. Now, though, I felt as though even that was lost on me. I felt there was nothing left to fight for. I lived for me. And by lived I meant, I stayed immortal no longer, and would _live_ as a mortal for my own death, and for my own release from my pain for good. I would reach old age and finally be rid of this life. All that was left in me was infected blood, my rage, and burning chemicals designed to alter me. I was a rabid and bitter man, waiting for validation for my trials. I did not hold a grudge against life for going on without me, but I found that I didn't belong in it anymore, which made me equally as angry as if I were to hold such a grudge. What I was infected with more than anything was my pain. It raged through me like a fever and incapacitated me at times from even breathing normally. This wasn't a life worth living, being bitter and having nothing to do with my time but ruminate in old memories. I wouldn't commit suicide, which is why I intended to life to old age as a human, but I wouldn't allow myself to go on forever in some sort of boundless purgatory, so I had gone to someone who could help me become mortal, in order to find a way to put an end to my pointless existence. Immortality meant nothing with no one to spend it with who truly mattered, or with no cause worth fighting for anymore.

My thoughts were redundant and dark. I was more than aware how many times the same thoughts reverberated through my endless memory, which was all the more reason why I was completely resolute in my decision. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, and decided to sleep. I retired to the master bedroom, the only room upstairs that I used, and settled into the austere room for a restless sleep. The bed and a flat digital clock on the wall, as well as one on a black wooden night stand, were all that decorated the room. The bed had a simple red duvet, a cream-colored fleece blanket, a white sheet, and a black pillow case over a single pillow. The color scheme was decorative, but simple. I didn't want there to be much to leave behind me, as there would be no one to leave it to when I was gone, so I kept my belongings sparse. Besides, what else would I keep in a room for sleeping, meaningless trinkets and hobbies? I had none. My blinds were drawn, as I preferred them to be, to shut out the entire world, and to let none see me, or to know even an ounce of whom I was. I didn't want anyone to know anything about my pain, my memories, my desires, or anything of me. I didn't want to be remembered or wanted now. Then if I were to be gone, I would haunt someone else's memories as mine were haunted now. The fact that I'd let my neighbor see me even for a second, even just a second to show her some much-needed compassion, was in the long-run a selfish act in my mind. She would have one memory of me now, perhaps a fond and tender one, and now there was even the slightest potential of her missing me, now that she wouldn't see me again. I was aware how arrogant it was to think that someone would glance at me once and immediately miss me for any reason at all. I hadn't really touched her life all that greatly, just shown her an ounce of deserved concern and interest. I certainly would have to be all too assured of myself to think such a thing, that just by being seen I could be missed by anyone, but just knowing the smallest possibility was there was my motivation to shut the world out.

For a moment of insanity, I wondered about that glance. I wondered if I _had_ given her any sort of comfort in that moment, knowing she wasn't alone in suffering some sort of extreme pain. I wondered if I'd given her any sort of strength to push through her day; her life. I smiled at the thought of her heart feeling lighter just for one moment; remembering what it's like to feel empowered. Perhaps she would begin to crave more of that empowerment to go on, and she would find her inner strength. I hoped she would find it easier than I. I hadn't found it at all, although I could almost taste it in that brief moment I'd met her gaze. It seemed almost as though she wished it for me. Her wishes were in vain, but I felt the smallest bit of healing from someone desiring me to be well. A smile flicked the corner of my mouth upward for a moment, and then it sagged again. I felt badly that I couldn't talk to her. As her neighbor, I wasn't being very neighborly, with the exception of this afternoon. I wasn't someone in her community she could reach out to as I should be. I read the grief of bereavement in an instant, and I felt almost a responsibility to her as her neighbor, and as one in constant mourning myself. I had lost all ability to sleep soundly, so I stood up and peered out of my bedroom window. Across the way, I saw her in her bedroom window, sitting on her bed, and staring wistfully at the western wall. I saw her hand brush her face and I knew that she was crying. I felt a twinge inside of myself at the sight of her in agony. I saw her reach over to a digital alarm clock at her bedside, which seemed to have an mp3 player, an iPod I guessed, in it. She reached over very abruptly to press a button on the iPod. I wasn't sure if she was turning it on or off, but it seemed as if she were turning it off to suppress a memory. Instinct told me as much. Her life was in a modern setting with modern reminders, but I was perceptive enough to know that something playing from that iPod was reminiscent of her grief. The sight was too much to bear. I resolved to act as a neighbor to her tomorrow. Perhaps her company would be enough to at least distract me from some of my own pain. I vowed that tomorrow would be the end of the worst of her trials. In a moment of complete abandon of my previous convictions, I decided that I was strong enough to shoulder someone else's grief, as it served some sort of purpose and gave some sort of meaning to my life. I would, after all, have some sixty or seventy or more years left to live as a mortal. Perhaps though I served no purpose in the world of immortals, I could serve some small purpose in the world of the mortals whom I would soon join. My resolve did not waver in the morning, as I awoke for the first time in centuries with a shred of dignity and hope.

A/N: I realize I'm kind of fudging on a few minor details to tweak the story to go the way I want it to, but such is the nature of a fanfic, right? Please feel free to catch any errors I may have made in way of continuity from the movies though. I'll let you know if I mean to change something or not, or if I simply forgot the way something was in the movie.


	3. Company

**Chapter 3- Company**

I awoke the next morning filled with dread, not wanting to face the day. My suspicions proved to be correct- I had overdosed on The Odd Men Out music. I'd played one of my favorite love songs, until I was practically physically ill. I hadn't been able to listen any longer, and had to turn it off mid-song. The Odd Men Out always changed up their set list and tweaked it for each crowd, so they didn't play this particular song absolutely every concert, but every concert that they _did_ play it, Emery sang it for me, making eye contact with me almost the entire song. It would probably have been intense enough to make even the most hopeless romantic nauseous, but for us it was this private, beautiful moment we had shared, reminiscent of when we'd first met and the state I'd been in when he met me. I was mysterious and full of grey sky; sad yet transparent in my pain. He saw it all. No wonder I was so full of pain, worse than the pain of the aftermath of a divorce. Emery understood me, totally and completely. He intuitively could figure out what was paining me every step of the way until I got over it. The only reason _we_ were apart was because of death. It was all so incredibly unfair. But then again, life was unfair. As I stared out at the chilly Washington morning, I began to miss Virginia so incredibly much. It had become my home the instant I moved there with Emery. I had no hesitations or difficulties letting it become a part of me; it was as easy as loving Emery. Now that he was gone though, I couldn't stay in Virginia to be reminded every day, and I couldn't very well go back to Michigan and be reminded of my failed marriage and the child I couldn't have. I took solace in my new home just outside of Seattle, which was also easy to love. It wasn't easy in the sense that it was a part of someone I loved, but it was easy to love because it was beautiful and serene where I lived nonetheless, as Virginia had been, and I happened to love rain, so it suited me well. I had loved rain well before I'd even met Emery. It had nothing to do with some metaphor for sadness and loving being alone and loving my depression. Rain actually healed me as well as the occasional sun I saw. I delighted in either one. Today was another glorious sunny day, but I couldn't even will myself to get out of bed. Wait a minute, bed? I sat up ramrod straight, and realized that I had fallen asleep on my couch under my afghan in the great room. After my moment in my room I had gone back downstairs to drink myself silly and fell asleep down there. I blew out what was left of the lavender candle, cursing at myself for letting it burn all night, and praising the heavens for the fact that the candle being almost gone was my worst travesty for the day- well that and a hangover. Now that I was no longer in mortal danger, I wanted to drown out the day. I'd had quite a bit of bourbon last night after I had listened to my music, and now I had a hangover and hated everyone and everything in addition to cursing my fate on a daily basis. I was too full of malice and my head was pounding too much to so much as even get up to make myself some coffee and eat something, so I pulled the afghan over my head, squeezed my eyes shut, and willed myself to die. To me it would be justice that I get to go too, if he had to go.

FUCK.

The pounding in my head was too much. I stumbled from the great room to the kitchen to get the rest of the bourbon. I knew it wasn't a wise way to deal with a hangover, and would only breed a stronger one later, and maybe even kill me, but I didn't care at that moment. I just wanted to make it all go away. I drank what was left in the bottle, then dropped it to the ground in anger, shards scattering all across the tile floor.

"Fuck, stupid fucking, fuckity…" I muttered to myself as I tiptoed around to get the vacuum cleaner, obsessive compulsively vacuuming until I was sure all of the glass shards were gone, and cursing doubly as much that I had been forced to vacuum at my own hand when I was in the middle of a half drunk, half hung over stupor. I felt like hell. Just as I was putting the vacuum away in the hall closet in the small foyer, the doorbell rang, causing me to jump and my heart to accelerate too much for me to handle at eight thirty in the morning. "Who the fuck…" I muttered. I didn't know any of my neighbors or anyone in the city besides my coworkers, and we weren't that close. I wasn't expecting anybody. I examined my clothing and hair in the mirror hanging on the left wall adjacent to the door. My hair that hung all the way down my back was tangled and looped in multiple places, with no recognizable part to speak of. My face still had marks in it from the seams of the couch cushions where they were divided. My baby tee had gotten rumpled in what was surely a fitful sleep, so I tore it off and stuffed it in the closet, revealing a simple black cami with lace. My PJ pants hung limply at my hips. I felt ridiculous, but knew that my unexpected visitor might be gone by the time I made myself presentable, so I just accepted that I might be botching my chance at keeping my job if it were my boss- thank God I worked from home and I didn't have to make many appearances at the office- and that I might be scaring off the mailman and never get my mail ever again. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at my relief and horror when I revealed to myself who my visitor. I felt relief because the visitor was not my boss or the mailman or someone who held bits of my life in their hands and could run away from me screaming vowing to terminate my employment or refuse me my bills, etc. out of fear, but horror because my visitor was a rather attractive man- perhaps I was delusional and imagining some handsome guy would just show up on my doorstep- who I would probably scare off, and who I wanted to stay for some reason, if only to have company for a moment.

"Hello. Forgive me and my lack of manners, turning up so early in the morning. Surely you weren't expecting company nor were you ready for a visitor," he surmised. "My name is Lucian. I live in the house behind you, so I'm technically your neighbor, and I thought I'd introduce myself and offer you my friendship since you're new to the Seattle area. I'm rather new myself, and I estimate that we could be a great help to one another learning our way around the city."

It was true, I had just moved here last week. I hadn't realized he was new to the city, too. I appraised Lucian as long as I could without being rude and appearing to be a mute by not responding; he was lean and rather muscular, and wore all black, his clothing slightly snug and clinging to his muscular form. His hair was a dark brown, and quite thick and long, down to his shoulders. It had a rather appealing wave to it, and he pulled the top portion of it back into a ponytail. He had a mustache and a short beard, not growing far past the contours of his jaw. His eyes were a piercing deep blue. They held a deep sadness in them as well as a bone-deep fatigue that I knew too well from bearing the sadness- the sadness I had seen yesterday afternoon, I realized- but they were soft and kind. He offered a smile full of a matching weariness, and the same kindness and soft expression. He had a low and gentle voice. Surely he saw how drunk and sloppy I looked, and yet his gaze only seemed to confirm what I'd sensed yesterday. We shared a kinship that he had also recognized in that instant, too. His face and eyes did not betray him; he passed no judgment on my drunkenness or my sloppiness. He knew it was a product of deep grief.

"Erm, hi. It's nice to meet you, Lucian. I'm Maya. It's really nice of you to come over and introduce yourself; I could use a friend in this big city."

He smiled a little wider this time. "As could I. I apologize that it's so early, again, and I apologize that it's so late, too."

"So late?"

"I waited a whole week since you've moved here to come."

"Oh, that's no big deal, really. I appreciate your coming here. I was a spastic mess anyway; unpacking boxes and what have you. It's unlikely I would have even heard the doorbell."

"My timing is impeccable then, I suppose. That's a relief. I wouldn't want to disturb you."

"No disturbance. I'm just saying I would have looked like I was ignoring you, which I wouldn't do on purpose."

"No, I wouldn't imagine you would. You're very personable." He smiled, and I couldn't help but smile back.

"Well um, come on in. I was just…"

"Making coffee to cover up the smell of the alcohol?"

"More like to cover the throb of my head," I retorted mildly good-naturedly.

He smirked. "I'm sorry, truly. I didn't mean to be offensive."

"I know. It was a funny remark, actually. I'm just extremely embarrassed with myself right now."

"Don't be. It seems like you had a very private moment last night that I'm intruding on the aftermath of, which is why I shouldn't have poked fun. Your sadness is not for my amusement."

"Please, intrude. The aftermath is probably less pretty than the private moment. And you made me smile. We all need to laugh at ourselves once in a while, right?"

Lucian smiled wryly. "So I was correct about the private moment. I suppose you're right, but just knowing you did have a private moment of sadness fills me with deep regret."

I said nothing in return, but looked at him appreciatively for his sensitivity and awareness of me. He'd known me for less than ten minutes and already he seemed to have the deepest respect for every emotion that passed through me. I really did appreciate his little remark though. It was the most light-hearted thing that had passed through this house since I'd arrived, and that I'd smiled at since Emery's death. I walked over to the coffee maker and poured in enough water and grounds of coffee for several, several cups for me and a few for Lucian, and turned it on.

"If I may ask, what brought you here to Seattle?" Lucian inquired politely.

"Oh, um…" I dropped my head solemnly. "I was…" I took a deep breath and tried again. "I was widowed about six months ago. I couldn't take the memories anymore, so I relocated with my job and got about as far away as I could get. Nobody told me that you can't get far away from your memories because they're right there all of the time." I didn't know why I added that last part in. It was true, but it sounded so lame, and like such common knowledge.

His eyes softened even more, and he looked straight into mine. "I'm so sorry. Truly, I am. That's a pain that no one should have to experience until two lover's times are close together. I am so very sorry." He continued to meet my gaze earnestly, his voice thick with condolence and understanding. I knew in that instant the gist of his story as well; he'd also lost a lover. He'd lost the one closest to him, too. He took my hand into his gently, and I was surprised how much the gesture moved me, and _how_ it moved me. My eyes welled with fresh tears. I struggled to regulate and even out my breaths, and when I caught my breath and regained my composure, I returned his question. "And what brings you here?"

He was a bit more evasive than me. "I also lost someone close to me. She was taken from me unjustly. I felt I hadn't a cause in the world after some time to live for, so I also relocated."

"Death is about the most unjust event of life there is," I agreed, struggling through the difficulty to say the word "death." He nodded, staring straight ahead, seeming to be referring to some other injustice besides his love's death, and I didn't press further for meanings. He was in a lot of pain like me, and it wasn't easy to answer questions so much as it was to provide answers without questions that you yourself volunteer. His eyes were brimming over too, but they quickly brightened, as much as he could manage, as he turned to me. I realized my hand was still in his. I didn't pull away, but rather left it there, leaving it to him to release when he saw fit, as he had begun the gesture. He didn't release my hand, either. I gave his a tender squeeze, and he breathed a sigh at my own gesture.

We stood there for a few moments in miserable, but comfortable silence, both searching for words and sifting through memories.

"I think your coffee is ready," he said after a moment, releasing my hand. He gently stroked his index and middle finger up to my elbow, and smiled, not taking his eyes off of me. I smiled back, feeling such a deep comfort being in the presence of my backyard neighbor. I was so grateful for Lucian that there were no words how much I appreciated him from the instant I'd met him. I poured myself a cup and broke down into sobs. I wasn't sure if they were sobs of sorrow, or relief, or just plain release. I figured it was a combination of the latter two, for the moment at least.

"Please don't cry," Lucian whispered, taking me into his arms, stroking my hair. "Try to smile. I'll do whatever I can to make you smile." He drew me close to him, as tightly as he could manage, and embraced him back, so still in the arms of someone who cared. My sobs eventually died down, and I closed my eyes and breathed in the stillness of this moment. "You're going to be alright someday soon," he whispered softly. I accepted his words, believing the same words I'd heard a thousand times over for the first time since… that day. I was amazed how comfortable I felt with someone I'd just met, but the man who lived behind me shared so much in common with me from similar experiences that I felt I'd known him forever. Whatever words he would ever choose to speak of his own pain, I would understand, and whatever I spoke of mine, he understood. Such a deep kinship set me at ease with him at once. I forgot completely about the coffee and the bourbon and my hangover and even my sorrow for the moment as I held on to the kind neighbor who had walked into my life at the perfect time, and clung to the truth of this moment. His proximity to my home and his proximity to me were all I had to cling to right now.

A/N: The character of Maya is based on me, Alex, off of my husband, and we are not divorced. Misha is based off of my daughter, and Emery is based off of the front man of my favorite band, which I renamed to The Odd Men Out. If there's an accidental slip of Barry in there, it's supposed to be Emery, and I'm sorry if I missed anything. After I read the terms of service I changed the names to abide by the rules. I wanted to put him in my story because I have a mini crush on him. Okay, a big one. ;) And obviously I have a huge crush on Lucian. Just livin' the dream here. :)


	4. Renewal

**Chapter 4- Renewal**

I felt like I had been forever changed in that moment. As I held the beautiful mortal girl in my arms, I felt poorly for the way I'd judged mortals, and on such a broad and widespread level. Clearly I'd been mistaken. Here was a mortal who couldn't have lived more than three decades, and already she had experienced sorrow that seared so deeply that she was fraying and unwinding at the seams in my arms. Her trust in me already was so unwavering and unbreakable though, that I held her as close to me as I possibly could. Not only did I want to make every bit of her pain evaporate, but I wanted to hold on to her. Except for her grief, I didn't want this moment to end. How selfish was I to have thought that living with pain for centuries was the only way to validate it? It hadn't taught me much, but this mortal had taught me something about pain. Mortals were certainly capable of deep pain, and some probably did suffer it for the duration of their life. They were simply granted the mercy of death to end the pain that otherwise had the potential to last as long as mine had. I realized then that I had bitterly judged mortals because I envied the eventual end to whatever suffering they may endure. In that moment, though, despite my anger and grief, I did not envy this girl, helpless and defeated in my arms. Her life was no easier than mine had been, and I wanted greatly to heal all of the blows that had been dealt so cruelly to her. Especially since her life would never be as long as mine had been, and since I'd managed to waste centuries even having as much time as I'd had, I didn't want her limited time to go to waste. That was the other thing that I didn't envy about mortals any longer. Though their time eventually came to an end, and their pain with it, it was so easy to waste, slipping away faster than an immortal could count.

Though my grief had been well-spent and justified, I realized in that moment how I truly had managed to allow my life of centuries past go to waste. It had taken a mortal, so like myself in so many ways, and a chance encounter with her to realize it, but in that moment I was so grateful to her, and vowed to repay her by bringing the joy to her life that she deserved. It was a mystery to me how to even begin; I hadn't even found the solution to my own sorrow, so I wasn't sure what assured me that I could solve hers, but I was suddenly filled with purpose and meaning, as well as a desire to live for the first time in eight hundred years. From the moment our eyes had met the day before, I'd discovered a part of me that I'd thought to be frozen a long time ago; the part that felt joy. I'd been able to feel, but only sadness. What had she stirred in me so suddenly and how had she managed to awaken it?

I backed away from her only far enough that I could look into her eyes.

"Are you alright?" I asked her, my heart blazing with concern for her.

She nodded quickly. "Yes. Yes, I'm alright, thank you." She wiped her eyes quickly, which were thick with emotion and exhaustion, and poured us each a cup of coffee. I couldn't refuse what she was offering me, especially since she was unaware that I was a Lycan, so I took the coffee politely and did what I could to conceal my disgust with the substance. It wasn't that I couldn't ever eat normal food, but it was a few days before a full moon, and my need to satiate my werewolf appetite overpowered my ability to be somewhat human in appetite during this time in the moon's cycle. That was what the anecdote was fixing- of course among the entire rest of my DNA- my appetite during a full moon. I was completely normal except for the full moon and the few days before and after, though now the anecdote had allowed me to eat beef and chicken and pork, and now grains during my peak werewolf days.

"I'm not much of a coffee drinker," I admitted, passing off a perfectly acceptable excuse to humans.

"Oh I'm sorry," she muttered. "I totally didn't even think to ask you. Well that's all the more coffee for me," she grinned, "I'm going to need it."

I laughed. "To conceal the smell of the alcohol."

"Yes," she laughed.

She led me to the great room of her house, which was very beautifully decorated. She had put much time and effort into creating a home with ambience for herself, and yet it wasn't overdone. It was less sparse than my own home, naturally, and of course I didn't think the less of her for it. Nonetheless, it was still a very minimalistic ensemble. She used very little to decorate, and made what she had count. I felt relaxed and at ease at once, watching the morning sun bounce off of rich dark shades of orange and brown and red.

"This is my humble abode," she said proudly, "and I often pass out here drunkenly," she added darkly. "Maybe I shouldn't have admitted that. That's bad."

"I pass no judgment. You've suffered much. I have yet to find a way to cope," I admitted, wishing to eradicate any need she felt to apologize for anything.

"Even for being a drunkard?"

"Even for being a drunkard."

She smiled, embarrassed, but pacified. It seemed I was succeeding at putting her at ease.

"I would hope one day you will find no further need for the habit, but especially while the pain is fresh I can't put blame on you for needing to deflect and dilute it."

"And what about you? You said you have no coping mechanism?"

"I ruminate in self-pity and just let the memories come and torture me," I said. "I've tried to block it for a while each day by teaching myself to play Chess, but the thoughts always come back. It doesn't help to not have an opponent."

"I can't really block the memories either, even with the bourbon," she said softly, in yet another moment of complete comprehension. She brightened a little. "Well we, as neighbors, have been formally introduced, and get along well. You could teach me how to play, and I'll be your opponent. Not that I like the idea of being your opponent, but I'll make an exception for a game."

I smiled. Her friendship was already so complete and loyal that she didn't want to think of herself as my opponent under any circumstance. "I'd be grateful for that. I could finally learn some strategies, rather than not just anticipating, but actually knowing my opponent's moves."

"Well it doesn't help that you're your own opponent," she laughed.

"I suppose not," I smirked, feeling uplifted. "Perhaps this morning will be as good as any, after you've gotten some food into your stomach." Just as I'd minded her to tend to herself, her stomach growled audibly.

"Oh my gosh, yeah."

After she had eaten, we crossed her backyard and climbed the fence to my backyard, and entered my house through the back door. For the first time, I felt an urge to pull up my blinds and let in the sunlight. I let her take the seat at my dining room table, and I stood, as I began to teach her to play Chess. Within a few moments of my instructions, however, sleep had fallen thick over her head, and she began to sag in the chair, into a deep sleep that was surely the most calm she'd experienced in a while, judging by how tired she'd looked this morning. But just now she looked so peaceful, even in the odd location of an uncomfortable and not so sturdy chair. I gathered her gingerly into my arms, and carried her up the stairs to my bedroom, pulling the covers aside, gently settling her onto the mattress, and pulling the covers over her limp and relaxed body.

Just then she stirred a bit in her sleep as I was turning to leave her be in the peace of my quiet room, sighing and shuddering, a low groan escaping her chest.

"It's so cold and dark. Don't leave me…"

Was she dreaming already? I wasn't sure, and believed that to be impossible in such a short time, though my room was neither dark nor cold. I spoke her name softly to see if she'd respond, the very sound of it touching me to the core. "Maya? Are you awake?"

No response. I had misjudged her state of sleep, however, as she began to toss and turn now. "Lucian, don't leave me. Stay away from oncoming traffic."

I froze. Her husband must have died in a car accident. That left me ice cold and numb for a moment. But I warmed over and felt my blood sizzle in the next instant at the sound of my name on her lips, and hearing her desperation for me, even if in sleep. The emotions it stirred deep within me, as her embrace had, surprised me. I decided to respond to her dream conversation, in hopes that it would touch her subconscious and ease her into a more peaceful sleep. I was hoping in the even deeper recesses of my heart that hearing me speaking to her and knowing I was there would be the reason she found that peace.

"I will, I'll stay away from oncoming traffic."

"Okay good, I was starting to worry about you."

"Maya?"

"Mmmhhh???"

"I'm right here." I swallowed hard, unable to stop the flow of emotion from my heart. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here."

She smiled angelically in her sleep now. "Okay Lucian," she breathed. "I'm alright."

"Yes, you are. You're alright now. I'm here. For always."

Her breathing slowed to normal, and her body relaxed. The only sound that filled the room was the sound of her breathing and my breathing. I sat down next to her on the bed and laid my hand gently on her back, watching over the beautiful woman who had given me life to experience for the first time in nearly a millennium.

A/N: I'm sorry if any of the interactions between Lucian and Maya seem to Bella/Edward-esque. I'd be lying if I said my writing hasn't at all been influenced by Stephenie Meyer after reading and enjoying four long books by her. I like her complex sentence structures, and sometimes scenes I write slightly remind me of things Edward would possible say to Bella, so I guess maybe I incorporated a bit of him into Lucian, but I try to keep the things he says close to how the character would actually act, and I try not to add too many modern idiomatic phrases into his language, either, since he's 800 years old. No copyright infringement is intended, and here's a DISCLAIMER since I haven't typed it yet: I do not own any of the Underworld characters- Lucian, Sonja, Viktor, Selene, Michael, etc. The only characters I own are Maya, Alex, Emery, and Misha-the characters I have created.


	5. Chess

**Chapter 5- Chess**

I awoke around noon, bleary eyed and moderately confused. I shot up ramrod straight when I realized I had no idea where I was. The last I remembered I had been with Lucian. I was acutely aware of the soft pitter-patter of rain; it had become overcast as I slept. Next to me, Lucian was breathing slowly, sleeping. My heart began to hammer. He was actually quite resplendent sleeping there, all muscular and peaceful in the calm, rainy afternoon. I hadn't guzzled _that_ much bourbon down this morning had I? Had we really….

He stirred in his sleep, and then his eyes opened.

"Oh! Um, hi… good… afternoon." My cheeks flushed as I stammered.

He smiled back pleasantly. "Good afternoon. Did you sleep well?"

"Uhhhh yeah, fine. And you?"

He nodded wordlessly, still smiling. Crap. That meant we probably had.

Blushing furiously, I struggled to regain composure. If we had, I remembered nothing. "You've got to give me some details, here. I haven't done this in a very, very long time, and if I had the time of my life and was too drunk to remember, then I want you to give me the play-by-play and fill in the parts that I missed, which… would be all of it." Red. Crimson red.

He looked at me with a puzzled expression. "Well, you were pretty exhausted. You didn't even have a chance to move your pawns around before you fell asleep."

My eyes widened. That was a new one; I'd never heard it before. "My… pawns?" I collapsed into a fit of giggles. "Oh my God, seriously? You can just spill. You don't have to be embarrassed and use metaphors. So wait, I fell asleep before we finished? God, that's embarrassing, I'm so sorry, really. I never do that."

His face remained confused. "Why would I be embarrassed about that? You don't have to be, either. We didn't finish the Chess game, in fact we didn't even start you were so tired. You fell asleep in the chair."

Woah, kinky. We were going to use a _chair_? But I had fallen asleep. What a shame, I was actually starting to get a little turned on with his metaphors for the twins and The Deed. Pawns, Chess and chairs. Hot. "Chair, huh? Wow… you give me more credit than I deserve, I'm really not that flexible. It's a shame I fell asleep, I would have loved to have tried that."

He eyed me quizzically, and then a smirk of amusement crossed his face, and then understanding. Immediately thereafter my face turned an even deeper shade of crimson, if that was possible, as I realized I'd just dug myself a hole. I remembered now. He was going to teach me how to play Chess, and I had been extremely tired. I had probably fallen asleep, and he carried me upstairs to his bedroom to sleep there in an actual bed. "Oh yeah, Chess… huh. Fun. Heh." I looked down and picked at my dried cuticles, pretending to be interested in them, wanting to die or disappear.

"So when I was talking about your pawns you thought I was talking about your…" He laughed a smugly amused chortle. "My dear, I would never refer to you in such a vulgar manner, nor take advantage of you that way." His face was serious now. "No living soul should be treated like an animal and every living being should have a say in what they do," and then his eyes shone mischievously, "especially in their use of chair," he added impishly.

"Oh, um, yeah. I guess one should have some awareness in what they're um… using their chairs for." I smacked my forehead with my palm. "Oh God. I'm so hung over… and I'm such an idiot."

"I feel I'm to blame for this misunderstanding. When I laid you in my bed to sleep, I sat next to you, and then I decided to sleep for a moment myself in order to rejuvenate my own energy. I should not have laid in such close proximity to you; it was inappropriate. And especially in your state of mind this morning, I left our juxtaposition open to interpretation. I apologize profusely for making you feel ill at ease."

"I… wouldn't exactly say ill at ease," I admitted, blushing again. "I just felt bad that if we'd shared a very intimate and meaningful moment that I'd forgotten it. If it had happened, it should have been more memorable for me. It… it _would_ have been more meaningful for me. I mean, because sex just _is_ something meaningful for me." What was I saying? Not that I wasn't certain that sex would be meaningful for me with Lucian. I simply didn't know him that well at all yet. And yet, I couldn't really stop myself from accidentally implying more than I'd meant to say, that beyond sex being a meaningful thing for me, it would have especially been with him. I felt more comfortable than perhaps was usually natural with a man I'd just met.

He smiled, seemingly taken aback but very pleased with what I'd said. "Well, all the same. I do apologize. I would not take advantage of you in a very exhausted and slightly drunken state. I'd be sure I had your consent before proceeding beyond any friendly advances as a neighbor. That includes being sure you were even capacitated enough to stay awake, tempting as it would be to act as less than a civilized gentleman with you." His eyes shone, and I found myself both flattered and reassured, not to mention mildly aroused at the thought of him having made less than gentlemanly advances earlier.

"Okay." I smiled back. "Well, it was very sweet waking up next to you just now."

"Truly?" He asked earnestly.

"Truly." He was supporting his weight on his right arm and palm, facing with his body over the edge of his side of the bed and his face turned to me. I put my hand gently over the back of his. He met my eyes and took in a deep, slow breath, as if to steady himself. In our meeting gazes I felt that moment of truth and transformation that you see so often in the movies, but that you immediately forget the magic of until you experience it for yourself. I knew then what was about to happen. I felt our faces slowly closing the space between us, his breath warming my nose now, the pull between us inexorable. Before I could even think about what was happening, I found my eyes closing into a peaceful trance and my lips parting ever so slightly, heart pounding, as his lips met mine, and his warm tongue glided against mine lightly. A shuddering breath escaped from deep within me as my hand tightened around his, and his left hand looped around my hip and pulled me closer to him. I was instantly that euphoric kind of dizzy, my thoughts a jumble of how far I should or shouldn't go and knowing how far I wanted to go. His hand moved all the way up from my hip, to my back, to my neck, leaving a sizzling trail of nerves behind it, as his weight slowly and gingerly pressed me down onto the bed, and then he straightened me out so that our heads were facing the headboard.

"It's a shame you're not flexible," he groaned as he pressed his hungry mouth to mine.

From underneath him I wrapped my legs around his hips, locking them into place and pushing my own ferociously against his. "I can try to be," I growled, the strain of a burning need for him boiling over and rushing forth. The passion he had aroused in me was so intense that I felt like I could twist my body in any way not normally possible just to feel every inch and contour of him. Our eyes locked, and I noticed the intense passion burning in his for the first time. He seemed to recognize the change in me, too. We shared a deeper bond than either of us had realized at first. Since the first time our eyes had met we'd not only known how similar we were and felt each other's pain, but we'd fallen instantly into deep, caring and intense love, from the inside out.

"Please do," he breathed, "but I'll be gentle, I vow it." He laced his hands in mine and pulled our arms over my head; he was breathing heavily now, as was I. His tongue groped deeper, but never lost its soft and gentle touch. He caressed his tongue against mine, and eagerly allowed me to return the favor. When I did, a low moan of satisfaction escaped his throat, his chest heaving with the strain of unreleased desire. "I confess it's been quite some time since I've done this either, and I haven't felt the burning desire to since I lost who I loved. You've awoken so much in me that I haven't felt in a long time, and some emotions, ever."

"Even with Emery, my late husband, I don't think I've ever felt anything this intense either," I whispered, meeting his kind and loving gaze. "From the moment I first saw you, I've fallen deeply for you."

He smiled dreamily at me, and then kissed me with such an intensity I thought I'd faint. Slipping deeper and deeper into the moment, our hips began to move back and forth together in synchronization, longing to break the few barriers- namely our clothing- that were left between us. As if on cue, he sat me up gently and slipped my cami off slowly, allowing his fingers to stroke my sides as he tugged it off. I shuddered with pleasure under his caress, nearly losing my mind in ecstasy. Looking up at him from underneath my eyelashes, we locked gazes as I slowly took his shirt off in the same fashion. It's tricky undressing your beloved when you're this aroused. How to choose between completely undressing them all at once and pummeling your unified forms into the mattress, or kissing them- and oh, when to pull yourself away from that kiss?- in between removing articles of clothing only to have to keep pulling away, or ravaging each part of the body before moving to the next article of clothing? In the frenzy of trying to decide, our hands, lips, and tongues were everywhere in a melee of passion, mauling each other with every satisfying move our sex-crazed bodies could manage, the sounds of our enthralled moans reverberating off of the walls of Lucian's bedroom.

I couldn't take my eyes off of Lucian once he was completely naked, despite my desire to completely ravage him. His body was so perfectly toned and muscular, and completely taught in his anguished desire for me, his hair long and flawless, touching his shoulders in the most appealing way, his eyes burning and intense, but with the same kind softness that had pulled me in, and his smile just as gentle, and full of desires and emotions unspoken, yet clear and completely readable to me. And looking down, though I did not require any minimum, he did not lack at all in size, and he was clearly ready for me. Everything about him from physicality to every deep secret and emotion laid bare for me to see, appreciate, and love unconditionally, was completely perfect, and I desired him wholly, absolutely, boundlessly, and forever.

"Lucian, I love you. I just met you, but I know that you were meant for me and I was meant for you. And before we do this I want you to know that. I love you."

"And I you," he breathed, pressing his forehead to mine, eyes intensely locked on mine. "My love, are you sure that you're alright with this? You're alright with me having you wholly this afternoon, after just meeting?"

"I am," I said softly, completely at peace with him, and wholly myself. "As long as you're alright with it and want this too."

"There is not a thing I want more than to share this moment with you," he assured me, "a thousand times over and for the duration of my life. My darling, I want you always. I have loved you also since the moment I first saw you. It was the most exquisite feeling to ever take hold of me. It was so unexpected, but so perfect, and completely satisfying for our souls to meet and instantly intertwine."

I was so happy and I felt so secure in that moment, and I knew that despite how soon we'd just met, it was already our time. Lucian laid me down tenderly, and with my eyes closed in compete trust and relaxation, I allowed him to enter me. He did it so slowly and carefully, allowing us both to enjoy every moment, our breaths mingling as our bodies did. He was a part of me now, and with each moan, gasp and sigh, I made sure he knew, as did he with each shudder, grunt, and moan to escape his chest. Our lips met once again as we moved together, gradually swaying our hips faster and faster until we simultaneously reached the sweetest release known to either of us. It felt so good, and I felt so wholly satisfied and so deeply loved and in love that I cried euphorically into his chest upon release. He held me tightly and kissed me through my sobs of released relief and passion, tears of his own streaming down his face.

Whatever grief I had known I would work through now, knowing that I wasn't alone in my grief anymore, and knowing that it had been for a reason. As tragic as Barry's death had been, and as much as a part of me would always miss and love him, it had left me free to love Lucian deeper than I'd ever loved a soul before. Lucian and I were even more alike than anyone I'd ever met- even Barry- in the way we conducted ourselves. Aside from sharing a common grief, we both had traits I had noticed that were alike; traits that we would have shared in common even if neither of us had ever grieved before and had met each other before we'd met our previous significant others. Lucian was silent and brooding like I was, but completely unabashed and blunt, raw even, once someone he cared about, and who cared about him, gave him an entrance to speak his heart. We each ruminated in our thoughts, and gave great care to what we said and how we said it, to convey the precise meaning, emotions, and reasoning behind what we were saying. And we both loved so deeply, so intensely and passionately, and reveled in a love so transcendent above all else in the world. Love for the two of us completely shifted the earth under our feet, changing us and our lives forever. For us it was a precious gem to be tended to and appreciated down to the finest detail and for every facet. It was foremost on the mind, on the lips, and in the soul. Words weren't needed to confirm this. I knew he was the same by the way he acted. He gave his complete concentration to me and loving me when he was in my presence, and I knew that he wouldn't find a single thing more important than me, and not let anything distract him from me, the way I wouldn't from him. We both lived in the moments we shared just the two of us as though the rest of the world didn't exist, and looked at each other as though the other _were_ the whole world. We now lived and breathed for each other, forever on out. Nothing was more precious to me than Lucian and his love for me, and I knew I was the most precious to him. We kissed each other softly as our bodies succumbed to a peaceful sleep, lying limp in deep satisfaction and doused in sweat. His hand reached for mine, and he laced his fingers through mine as we kissed, sighing gently.

"I love you, my darling Maya."

"And I Iove you, Lucian, forever."

Tranquility filled the room and settled in, emanating from us vibrantly, and in the stillness, I fell into a slumber so restful that I was able to forget everything except for the man I loved next to me and the binding intimacy I'd just experienced with him. His soft, satisfied breathing lulled me into a silence I dared not ever break.

A/N I hope I didn't introduce a sex scene too soon. Sorry, I'm a bit of a horn ball, and I really enjoyed writing this scene. Also, the Chess metaphors were my own idea; it just sort of came to me as I was writing, and thought it would be a humorous way to play off the bourbon hangover.


	6. Deliberations

**Chapter 6- Deliberations**

I awoke a few hours later for a second time in my bed, next to the exquisite mortal who had taken my breath away. The rain was still falling rhythmically outside. Memories of our intimacy flooded my thoughts; the deepest of satisfaction being reached, a primal hunger fulfilled, and a bond shared that ran so deep. Our act of love- primal of a need as it was by design- was anything but primal. It surpassed anything that had ever been before, and transcended further above the planes of ordinary love than I'd ever conceived possible. As little as I knew about Maya in the factual sense, I still knew her. I knew her soul so well, and she knew mine, and I felt that in any instant I could read her by her body language, and through her eyes. I would do anything for her, excluding nothing, and I was certain that she would do anything for me.

There was one problem that troubled me, though. Maya did not know that I was Lycan. Yes, it was true that I was taking the anecdote to become human, but I had a complicated past- one that would be impossible to believe. It was a double-edged sword of a dilemma because I despised the mere thought of lying to her and telling her a generic story as to how I lost Sonja. She would surely believe me and have no reason to suspect something else had happened, especially what truthfully had happened. Still, I wanted to be completely honest with her. On the other hand, given how improbable the truth would sound, I would seem like I were not only lying to her, but a bonafide lunatic. As Maya slept in a restful slumber beside me, I deliberated and agonized over what I would confide in her about myself, knowing full well that we would eventually have this conversation where we delved into every layer of ourselves until we got to the core. I could not defer it forever, and my deep feelings for her would appear suspect and inauthentic if I avoided talking about my past for long or perhaps even at all. The slightest hesitation would make it appear that I had something to hide and that I didn't wish her to know me at all. I considered the option of transforming in front of her to provide proof of all that I was telling her, but I feared that I would frighten her too much, despite the total self control I had over the Lycan within. I would make no apologies for who I was, as I never had to Viktor or any other Death Dealer. Still, Maya did not know or understand a thing about Lycans or vampires, let alone possess the knowledge that either truly existed. To see such a fearsome looking creature that she knew nothing about would only manifest itself as a threat and mortal danger to her. She would not see the display as my own acceptance of myself and who I was. If I were to transform before her eyes she would not realize that I had the self control to not hurt her, and that I was still completely aware of what I was doing and who I was. She would be too consumed with the fear of the giant creature she would see before her, with its fearsome build, its sharp fangs, its rabid looking eyes, and its talons so capable of destruction. I would appear as though I would lunge forward at her at any moment. I knew all too well that I was no monster and a completely civilized being, but the natural instinct of a mortal human being faced with a creature appearing like a predator before them would be to flee. That was how mortals survived, and I didn't hold it against them. That left, then, the dilemma of how I would reveal anything about myself to Maya without it being a complete fabrication, and how to hold uttering any falsifications to her on my conscience.

Suddenly, my heart began to beat faster as I realized that it was almost time for me to take the anecdote, and I could not have Maya here to witness me in that much pain. It would be yet another frightening moment for her to bear witness to. Additionally, when my body was under so much stress, there was a slight risk that I would give in to temptation and transform. I would have to force her out, a thought which frustrated and pained me to have to do. I would appear so rude and so cold after what we'd just shared together. I comforted myself with the reminder that I'd be fully human in a month's time, and I would never have to endure doing this to her again, barring that her affections and trust for me did not wane by then. Nonetheless, I knew the sort of man I would appear to be just moments from now when I ushered her out of my door.

"Maya?"

She sighed an angelic sigh, crossing over from a world of peace and security to a world of waking and the pain I was about to inflict on her. Only in this moment, and by no cause of being a Lycan, did I feel like a monster. I knew what damage forcing her to leave would do to the perfect moment we'd shared just hours before with only a minimal explanation, inadequate at best, and an offer for a future rendezvous.

"Hi," she smiled, mischief glowing in her eyes upon seeing me still without clothing. "I remembered this time. You still owe me a chair though."

I smiled back, amused, and then was jolted back to a flood of self-loathing and fear- fear that she'd never wish to see me again after now.

"My darling, did you sleep well?"

"Um, _yeah_ I did! After an afternoon like that, I'd say sedatives are officially ineffective by comparison." Her eyes and expression softened. "Lucian, that was the most amazing sex I have ever had in my life. Sharing it with you, and the feelings I have for you are what made it so incredibly satisfying. And I just want you to know that there's no one else; I'm not seeing anyone. You are the one guy in my life." Sincerity burned like my love for her in her eyes.

Her words stung me as guilt flooded my heart. This was not going to be easy. But she must know that I intended to see her, and only her, again.

"Maya, my love, I'm afraid I must ask you to leave. Believe me when I say that this was so incredible for me too, and there is no one but you. This moment has transcended all expectations I have ever had about love. But I must take some medicine, and the effects it has on me are incredibly painful, and I don't wish you to see me that way. But may I see you tomorrow? I would like… very much… to see you tomorrow." I was humbled in her presence, and completely at her mercy. The choice was left up to her. But of course, I was too late. The damage had been done. I watched as her face fell into a twist of agony, hurt, disbelief, and suspicion.

"So… so you're terminally sick? A-are you on chemo or something like that?"

"No, I do not have a terminal illness," I assured her gently. "The anecdote for it is simply very strong. I have a… genetic mutation that I'm undergoing treatment for, but it _is_ treatable, and I'll be completely normal in a month's time. I've been treated for quite some time so I'm quite well."

Her eyes narrowed. She was definitely suspicious, as what I was telling her was quite unbelievable. As little as I knew about the modern world in which I lived in, due to never having been fully submerged in it, only lived in its underbelly, I knew full well how little consistency my half-truth held with the way modern medicine was practiced.

"You don't look or act to me like you have a genetic mutation. And even if it's internal and I can't see it, I doubt the medicine they'd be giving to you would be causing you so much pain, and if it were you'd be in a hospital where your pain could be managed if it's that severe. You walk around, you talk like normal, you act like normal, and you… well you certainly do The Deed like normal. And plus, I don't think I've ever heard of a genetic mutation being reversible. I'm no doctor but this sounds pretty suspect to me. I think you're just too chicken to tell me that there _is_ another woman-"

"Maya, please, believe me love, there is no-"

"STOP! Okay? Just… stop. I'm flattered that you still want to see me again. At least, I think I'm flattered; maybe I should be disgusted given that you… Look. I am _not_ going to sit around and just willingly allow it to go on behind my back while you're playing the Hanky Panky with multiple players. I have more self-respect than that. I get it. You lost someone you love. Usually a lot of people fuck everything in sight to get over it, and that's fine. Do what you want. Just be honest about it, God damnit, so that the woman can choose if she wants to be a part of it. I _don't_." She exhaled sharply. "You don't want a commitment, fine. I can take it. Thanks for the best orgasm of my life."

And with that she spun on her heel, with me close behind, as she headed for the front door, presumably to walk around the block to her house instead so that the fence wouldn't slow her down in taking the back way. I hated myself more and more as the tears began to stream down her face, and mine as well. If I could just get her to stay long enough to see one of the vials, then at least I could gain a little time longer to get her to calm down and regain her trust. I could then afford myself some time before I told her everything. At least then she would know that I really was taking a healing substance, and not seeing another woman and defiling the love we shared. I was frantic in my attempt to catch up with her, but her fury and scorn drove her faster and faster towards recluse in the privacy of her own home. I knew that she would hide away, now shouldering more pain than she had originally had, and all at my hand.

"Maya please stop and listen to me for one moment…"

"NO! Don't follow me! Just let me be alone with my misery. I just want to go home and be in pain! Don't come any closer!"

I couldn't risk doing any further damage, and so, helplessly, I let her go. The suffering she would surely undergo tonight was almost unconscionable. I could do nothing to stop it now, though. The damage was done. If only I'd just waited another month until I was human! But I couldn't very well have left her to suffer the grief she already bore alone after the state I'd seen her in the night before. I simply hadn't had enough foresight to realize that I could have easily pushed her away with the secrets I had to maintain for her benefit when I'd sought to help her heal. There was nothing I could do now, though. I had to continue taking these vials if I wanted to become like her. I was certain now that I had just undergone another great loss, however. If that were the case, I considered the possibility of either suicide the moment I was a human or even immediate suicide. All I needed in this moment to self-destruct was a weapon made of silver and I was done for.

No.

Such an act was despicable, unfathomable. No, it would only prove me to be a coward, and besides that I knew my mission now. I had to fight for her. She was more than worth it, and if it took an entire lifetime to prove it, I had to show her that I truly loved her.

For now though, I would wallow in my pain. The pain I'd caused her, the burning, searing pain of the anecdote flushing my veins of the virus that had turned me in the womb, and the pain of possibly losing her. How cruel a twist of fate it was, that in just a day's time we'd both wound up suffering more pain than we'd started with, all at my hand. I had only wished her joy- the joy that she'd brought me. I closed my eyes, bracing myself, and swallowed the vial of pharmaceutical substance that would change me back forever. I hoped that not a soul in the neighborhood heard my snarls and howls of mixed agony. From underneath me, the granite kitchen counter threatened to crumble under my strength. I drew all of the shades around my house and let the agony seep through and through.

A/N: I don't claim to know how people would actually appear (normal or not) with a genetic mutation or how they'd behave, and I figure most mutations can't be reversed with any medicinal practices, but I don't know how much research has been done about that or whatever. I'm just trying to sound scientific for the story.


	7. Obsessing

**Chapter 7- Obsessing**

I ran around the block back to my house, tears streaming down my face. I had left the back door unlocked, and hadn't brought my keys with me, so I went around to the backyard and entered through my kitchen. The sobs that had been threatening to break through my chest ripped with great force though now. I had never had the disgrace of being shooed out not long after sleeping with a man, and normally didn't sleep with men at all unless I was in a committed relationship, but this was bitterly painful. It had felt like we'd gone beyond just committed earlier that afternoon. I was confused, and hurt, and completely enraged. Lucian had completely betrayed my trust and used me to get what he wanted. How easy. Take advantage of the neighbor girl who's hurting badly. He was just another sex junkie, using it to get over his long lost love. It was a story as common as the carnal knowledge we had shared. It had felt like something completely different than just lust, or even love. It felt like a deep bond beyond love for which there was no definition. How wrong I had been, though. How weak, how mislead, how blindsided.

I knew how quickly down into alcoholism I was spiraling, but in that moment I could have cared less. I grabbed a new bottle of bourbon from my liquor cabinet and chugged down as much of it as I could, as quickly as I could. I turned my body away from the kitchen window, wishing to see nothing of Lucian or his house. I wanted to forget him at all costs. It was more than a little inconvenient that he lived behind me. Despite wanting to forget him, however, I still handled pain the way he did now. I was still turning out to be so much like the man I wanted now to forget. For the first time in a week since I'd moved here, I ran through my house closing every blind there was. I ran upstairs furiously, forgetting that window, and flung myself onto my bed, cursing the existence of beds in genera for the pain they'd brought me. I knew I'd probably be sleeping on the couch again tonight eventually. It was my habit now. Out of jealous curiosity, I looked out of my window to try and get a glimpse of the woman who was surely joining Lucian shortly. Instead, I saw a sight I didn't expect. There was Lucian's form behind his shades in the kitchen, doubled over in pain; I could clearly see the outline of his body, and he appeared to be leaning over the sink. Surely he was crying about his dead lover. I turned away in irritation. Naturally he'd forget about her for a while when his next victim came over, I thought bitterly.

I lay in bed, weeping sorrowfully, and replaying the night of Emery's death over and over in my head. I felt so cruel to have stopped grieving him for even a moment, especially for some guy who would forget my name and who I was by tomorrow. A flood of lyrics he had been working on for a possible new album in the future flooded my memory, and I found myself humming the melodies that went with the words through my sobs. I curled into a ball and started rocking myself until I fell into yet another fitful sleep. A disturbing montage of images flickered through my mind as I slept; Lucian's body wrapping around mine, Emery's mangled body that I helped identify in horror and shock- it was mangled almost beyond recognition- at the coronary's office, the funeral, what the accident would have looked like in my mind, Lucian's immaculate naked body, and his kind eyes and smile…

"EMERY!"

I awoke with a start, gasping for air.

"Oh God… what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the FUCK??" I swiped at my forehead, where beads of sweat had begun to collect, and sat up to find that I had been lying in a pool of sweat all around me. I was in such a frantic and confused state that I ran to the window, ripping it open, and desperate for some fresh air. I breathed in the night until my breaths slowed and my face cooled off. I noticed that the light was on in Lucian's kitchen, and that he didn't seem to have moved from the sink, at least probably not besides to turn the light on. He was still doubled over, and I could faintly see his chest heaving. It was apparent that he truly was in quite some pain. I wondered if there ever had been a woman over at all. But a few hours had passed. Of course. By now they had surely done The Deed, she'd left after he'd given her the same song and dance he'd given me, and now he was over the sink again, trying to forget about the one he'd lost. It made me sick. The air that I had hoped would feel fresh now felt stale and reminiscent of all of my pain, and I found myself suffocating in its poisonous atmosphere.

I slammed the window shut and headed downstairs to get some more bourbon and fall asleep on the couch, as was my nightly ritual. I had decided to hell with dinner; I would skip it. My stomach would just be empty again by morning anyway, as would be my heart. As I drank straight out of the bottle, a little slower this time, I picked up my guitar that was sitting in the corner of the great room on a stand, and began to strum some familiar chords. My heart hurt more than ever as I thought not only about Emery, but about the divorce from Alex as well. Misha was becoming more and more distant from me as her mother every day, and had been even when I still lived in Michigan before I met Emery. Alex had begun brainwashing her early on to hate me, and it was effectively working. She still would call me here and there, but we found that we had less and less to talk about as she got older, and I sensed there was less and less that she wanted to tell me. She only called on Christmas and my birthday and every now and then these days. It was heartbreaking, but I'd learned to accept it. It was just hard to believe I'd been there every step of the way until she'd been about two years old, and now she wanted nothing to do with me- hence why I'd moved so far away without the slightest hesitation. What was left for me now?

Thinking about the divorce and my estranged daughter only made me feel more alone. I cried and drank until I felt hollow, setting the guitar aside again, and singing The Odd Men Out songs a cappella in agonized drunken slurs. Emery would have known exactly what to say to me to make me feel better about Misha. We would have talked the whole night long and held each other, and made each other laugh until our chests hurt. We probably would have made love at least once, too. A small voice inside my head was trying to tell me that Lucian would know what to do to help me with my pain, too, but I was too busy drowning that voice out with bourbon, even though it was screaming as loud as its tiny pleas would allow.

"I don't believe you!" I yelled, and slammed the bottle down onto the coffee table. I realized that due to my despicable consorting with my neighbor, I hadn't had lunch, either, and I was feeling poorly with the alcohol taking effect this quickly, so I stumbled to the kitchen to grab a turkey and Swiss cheese sandwich. Whatever it was that compelled me to open my kitchen window I decided to go with that instinct, damning myself for being so insane. I was startled to see that Lucian's shades were up again. He was looking out of his kitchen window, too. He appeared startled and shocked to see my window open and looked over at me wistfully as I masticated my sandwich angrily. I glared at him, closed the blinds and turned on my heel, headed back to the great room. I grabbed a CD I had compiled of the saddest love songs I could find, and put it in the stereo, playing the music as loudly as I could stand without hurting my ears. I began to bawl full force now, unable to stifle the shuddering sobs that came forth, each one leaving me nearly breathless. I left my half-eaten sandwich on the coffee table and cried myself hoarse until I fell asleep with my afghan over my eyes, blocking out the sunlight that would come in the morning. There was no sunlight in my heart, and I was pretty sure I never wanted to see the sun ever again.

Despite my best efforts to block him out, all I could think about was Lucian. I dreamt about him all night in a fitful sleep. I fell off of the couch more times than I could count screaming his name, waking up from a nightmare I couldn't remember. I kept thinking about whoever he had slept with, and how she compared to me. I kept thinking about what was going through his mind. I wondered what he had been thinking when he met me, having a plan in place all along to sleep with me. I wondered what he had thought when I turned around to leave. I wondered what had crossed his mind when our eyes had met in the kitchen tonight when I got my sandwich. I wondered if he was sorry for messing around. I wondered if the sex with the other woman- or women- had been better than it had been with me.

Somewhere around four AM I awoke, my stomach growling, and finished off my sandwich. I was still thinking about Lucian, of course. The thought I had forbidden myself the most strictly to recall came back to me at once, catching me off guard. I began to remember when we'd made love. The moment had felt so intense, so real, that now, despite the hurt, I could not stop thinking about it. The moment had been so incredible that upon recalling it, I was fighting the urge to pleasure myself just to get rid of the hollow urge I had to be satisfied that way again. As I tried to force myself not to remember, my fingers crept lower and lower beneath my clothes, and I bit my lip, trying to just forget.

Just then I jumped at the sound of frantic knocking on my kitchen door. I screamed, startled, afraid that there was some lunatic out there. Heart thudding, I tiptoed over to the door, and cautiously peered through the blinds of the little window on the door, careful to be sure that I saw who was there, but that they didn't see me. I relaxed when I saw it was Lucian. I wasn't happy to see him, but I was relieved to see that it was someone I knew.

I scoffed; knew, indeed. I thought I'd known him. "What to do you want, Lucian?" I yelled through the door, aggravated.

"Maya, please let me in! I need to talk to you," he pleaded.

"Can't it at least wait until morning? Not after midnight morning, but actual, 'hey look, the freaking _sun's_ up,' morning?"

"No. It cannot. I'm desperate to talk to you and I can't stop thinking about you." He hesitated a moment- waiting, expectant. "Please."

"Jesus," I whispered to myself. "You don't want to see me exclusively, I get it. Don't just apologize to me. Don't just let it go on my account. By all means, make it more painful by having 'The Talk' with me. Just _draw_ this out as long as you possibly can…" I mumbled as I opened the door. When he came in, he was crying, and he pulled me close and kissed me with passion, pressing against my lips with force.

"Jesus Christ… WHAT THE HELL? Get _off_ of me, _God_!"

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me," he pleaded. "I just love you so intensely, you must believe me…"

I sighed. This was so pathetic, and was going to be a long night of an endless circular argument, from what I could see. I braced myself for more pain as I was about to embark upon a useless, repetitive and frustrating conversation.

A/N: Angst, angst, angst. Sorry again, that's another thing I thrive off of in my stories, haha. I'd just like to point out again that even though Alex, Maya and Misha are based off of my husband, my daughter and I, we are not divorced. I just simply couldn't kill off my husband even in a story, so in order to be able to relate to Lucian on the loss of a lover in the story I invented a relationship that I could botch off that wouldn't bother me since I'm not really in that relationship. *exhale* Okay. Whew. I'm verbose.


	8. Unveiling

**Chapter 8- Unveiling**

I stood before her, humbled, and grateful that she had even opened the door to me at all, let alone at this hour. Being apart from her all of this time had left me feeling so incredibly hollow, and even as the effects of the anecdote had worn off, my grief had driven me mad. For the first time in eight hundred years though, my grief was not spent on Sonja, but rather on Maya. I was so afraid that I had lost her love forever, so much as I hated what I was about to do, I knew that my only choice was to transform before her eyes so that I could give her the proof she needed of who I was, and that I truly did love her. Tears streamed down my face as the fear gripped me that she would still turn me away out of fear after this.

The feeling of kissing her just now, mixed with the memory of touching and kissing every inch of her caused my nerves to tingle, and I felt a hollow feeling inside at the thought of never doing these things again, or never even being with her at all. That brief moment when our eyes had met from our kitchen windows a second time tonight would haunt me forever if this was the last time I'd see her; not just the look of anger she'd given when she'd glared at me, but the pain I'd clearly seen on her face before it had registered in her mind that I was looking out my window at her. I also smelled the faintest smell of alcohol on her breath; she had taken to a strong remedy to forget what I'd done to her. It stung to even think how she might have been hurting all evening and afternoon since I'd sent her away.

"Maya, I need to show you something to prove to you that what I said this afternoon is true." I took a breath to steady myself, heart pounding. She would run. "But I will have to frighten you to do so." I hung my head not in shame- I accepted myself for all that I was- but in humbled fear of her rejection. I did perhaps feel some shame in the thought of terrifying her the way I was forced to now.

She stared at me, appearing to be irritated, in expectation. Her face softened a bit, puzzled, but comprehending my sincerity and obvious fear of her reaction. She seemed to understand now that I was not happy about what I was about to do, and it registered on her face that I was unwavering in my intensity; I was serious. She seemed to know that now. She took a deep breath, not seeming to know what to expect from me now that I'd taken her a bit by surprise. I held on to a glimmer of hope that she appeared to want to believe me now.

"Okay, then frighten me," she whispered. "If you're telling the truth that you love me and that there's something going on with you, then just do it. I'm ready."

I took in a deep breath. "Please, promise me you won't run. And believe me that I won't hurt you- that I _can't_ hurt you, as impossible as that will be to believe in a moment."

She truly did not know what was in store for her. Fear and puzzlement were etched into her face. "You're really scaring me now, Lucian."

"I wish I didn't have to," I whispered.

In the blink of an eye, I transformed into the Lycan within right before her. She stared up at me in complete shock and wide-eyed fear. Despite all of that, acceptance crossed her face as she stared up at me- fangs, talons and fur.

"Oh my… _God_… oh my God, oh my God, oh my God…" she whimpered, frozen where she stood. "So your genetic mutation, you're a… _werewolf_? Werewolves actually _exist_? Wait a minute…" She seemed to be having an extreme amount of difficulty gathering her thoughts, and I decided she had seen enough of me that way. She had her proof now. She wasn't running, and she would stay and hear what I had to say now. I felt badly enough for all I had done to her already.

"Yes, I am a werewolf," I confirmed, "a Lycan, to be precise. I am half human, and half werewolf. Unlike werewolves, who do not take on the form of a human until they die, I can transform at will. I was the first of my kind, born eight hundred years ago. I assure you, I am in complete control of myself even in my Lycan form. I will not hurt you. And the anecdote that I'm taking," I pulled a vial of a red, transparent substance out of my pocket to show her, "is to turn me into a human for good. I've been taking a vial a day for five months, and in another month's time the transformation will be complete and permanent. If I stop treatment, all of the anecdote that I've taken so far will have no effect and I will remain a Lycan. I would have to start all over again for a complete six months; therefore I must take a vial every day at the same time. It is _crucial_."

She took a deep breath, pressing her fingers to her temples. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God… okay. And so the vial that you take causes you severe pain?" she inquired, attempting valiantly to absorb all that I was telling her.

I handed the vial to her to examine, which she willingly took and held up to her eyes, turning on the kitchen light. "That is correct. After I ingest the anecdote, it's immediately absorbed into my bloodstream, and from there it begins a rigorous process of rewiring and rerouting my DNA. As it goes through my veins I feel an extreme burning sensation, like fire coursing through my body. The effects last for hours before I can be myself."

"And so when I saw you hunched over your sink in the kitchen, that's the pain that the anecdote is causing you?" Sadness and concern burned in her eyes, her compassion for me returning. I was so relieved to see that she was accepting me back into her life again slowly, but surely, and that she was beginning to trust me again.

"Yes. The first time we made eye contact through our kitchen windows I was in the throes of pain from the anecdote. I was also thinking of Sonja, my lover who was killed, but I was physically in pain too." I realized that that wasn't the only time she'd seen me this way, either. She'd probably seen the outline of my form through my shades when they were drawn as well.

"Oh Lucian, I'm so incredibly sorry. And here we were both talking about the deep kinship we felt with each other, and how deep of a bond we shared, and I doubted you. I feel like such an ass… I'm horrible!" Maya began to cry, her face buried in her hands.

I took her hands and pulled them around my neck, cradling her chin in my hands, and stroking the tears off of her cheeks. I kissed her softly and deeply, and she sighed contently, pulling me closer and pressing her body against mine. "My love, you have nothing to be sorry about. I presented the information about the anecdote so suddenly after we had shared such an intimate moment; it created such a horrible, despicable illusion that I was in a rush to have you gone out of disinterest. It is I who should be sorry, and I am. I am so incredibly sorry for making you feel the way I had, Maya. If I had had more time and didn't need to take the anecdote at the same time every day I would have found a way to manage our time together-"

"Shhh, it's alright Lucian." She kissed me back with such intensity that my heart soared. "It's better that it happened this way. Now I know the truth. I don't think I'd know any perfect way to tell someone that I'm a werewolf- sorry, Lycan- either. If I hadn't seen you turn into one right before my eyes I'd have still thought it was all so ridiculous. I still do feel badly too that I couldn't just believe you and take it on faith when you said you had to take an anecdote that caused you pain, though. Like I said, I'm no doctor."

"Fear not, my love. As I said, I understand completely why it stung so badly for me to usher you out. And all that I told you is quite an unusual story." I stroked her hair tenderly, desiring so deeply to take her again.

"Lucian, you know you can show weakness in front of me. I don't mind seeing you that way when you take the anecdote. I'll stay with you if you want."

"Believe me, love, it wasn't out of shame of my weakness that I kept you away. When I'm in that much pain, though I can usually control myself from transforming, there's that risk if my concentration slips when I'm in such twisting agony. In case today had been the day that happened, I didn't want you there where I could frighten you before I'd had a chance to warn you. At least now tonight I had the chance to warn you that I'd have to frighten you."

She nodded. "I understand now. That was actually very considerate of you. From now on though will you let me stay with you while the anecdote's effects are hurting you? I know what you look like now as a Lycan so you couldn't possibly scare me twice."

"I'd be grateful to have you with me," I whispered. "Your company is the most precious to me."

She ran her fingers gently through my hair, and kissed me again. "Whatever small comfort I can give you, I want to help you."

"You're more than a small comfort to me, my darling. Believe that."

She smiled and nodded. And then a new facial expression crossed her face. "Hey, why don't we go get something to eat together? I know of a diner open twenty four hours a day since it's after four in the morning. It's on me. Call it a peace offering."

I smiled too. "That sounds sublime. Perhaps we both should freshen up, though. I don't mean to be rude, but you look like you haven't showered for days."

She smelled herself and smiled ruefully, making a face. "Ugh, you're right, actually, I haven't. Geez! And you got all close to me smelling like this."

"Well you didn't smell at that time. Perhaps that's _why_ you smell. It was… quite an _exertion_," I grinned at her impishly.

A crimson blush colored her face. "Hmmm you could be right about that. Well, alright. Let me go shower, and I'll let you go shower too. We can meet up here in half an hour. I'll leave the door unlocked. See you then!"

She seemed to be very excited and in a rush to get to our little late night rendezvous, but I wasn't in a rush, though I was certainly excited. As she wheeled around to go run upstairs I caught her hand, tugging her gently back towards me.

"You know, we've already seen each other naked. We could always save time and water by sharing."

A grin crossed her face as she comprehended my meaning. "Lucian if we do this your way I doubt we're going to be 'saving' water. Or time." She winked devilishly.

Desire washed over my body, and she tugged on me, her hand still in mine, leading me up the stairs to her washroom. I lifted her up into my arms with one swift motion, and she straddled my hips with her legs like before as I carried her up the stairs, kissing her passionately.

"Screw eating," she groaned into my mouth. "We'll just eat breakfast in the morning. And then we'll…" I kissed her in between every word, "just… have… a good… time… here… MMMM!"

I snickered at her response to my wild passion brimming over. Our clothes were off in a matter of seconds, the hot water running, and we stumbled into her shower with all of the grace of two drunken imbeciles. She was certainly right. We weren't going to be saving water right now. In the dead of night, our moans and howls of pleasure echoed off of the tile walls until we reached a release sweeter than the first time. Perhaps my revelation to her had been the most crucial to being able to see her again. She was stronger than I'd given her credit for. In the face of a Lycan, she hadn't run, but rather she had trusted. And now I was surer than ever that she was the one meant for me. I screamed her name joyously into the night just as she was screaming mine.

A/N: I don't really know what to do when I get all science-y on you guys, so I'm trying to not get into too much detail about the anecdote, simply because I really don't know what much about DNA (see what good high school bio did me?), and it doesn't really matter anyway because it's science fiction. So just take all of that stuff with a grain of salt, and I'm sorry if I'm inconsistent or make anything a little bit too unbelievable in the sci-fi department.

Also, I need to re-watch either "Underworld" or "Rise of the Lycans." Does anybody know what happens to a Lycan's clothes when they transform? I don't even remember if it was mentioned or shown in any of the movies. This is probably the "Twilight" geek in me talking, but I know when Jacob "phases" his clothes rip off. If Lucian needs to have some clothes handy, I need to write that into my script. Or maybe not. ;)


	9. Information

**Chapter 9- Information**

We stood there in the shower for a moment as Lucian kissed up and down my neck, nuzzling me and not letting go. He held me so tightly, like he might lose me any moment, and I held him tightly back to reassure him. Now that I knew exactly what was going on, he had no reason to fear losing me. My heart was still pounding wildly at his every touch, his every movement. I had never known it was possible to have mind-blowing sex like this two times in a row, and I figured I was in for a lifetime of wild rides so long as we were together. Lucian was in my soul, his intertwined with mine forever now. Everything I felt emotionally just heightened the experience.

I was far too awake to sleep now, so I figured now would be as good a time as any to learn all about Lucian's mysterious and mythical past. I had, naturally, never met a werewolf, or even heard of a Lycan, before. Everything I'd heard about them was in myths and fun or scary stories for Halloween. Now that I knew they actually existed, and I had no doubt in my mind after the proof that had been laid before my very eyes, I wanted to know the difference between fact and fiction, and I wanted to know Lucian's own story of how he'd come about to be here in Seattle, Washington.

Lucian chortled at me.

"What?"

"You've still got shampoo in your hair," he teased.

"Well I was a little too busy to rinse it out," I laughed, poking him in the side. "God, Lucian, you're still…"

"What?"

"Nothing." I looked down and blushed.

"Oh, that," he burst out laughing now. "That's a side effect of being a Lycan. Around the time of a full moon, which will be tomorrow, we have heightened appetites, and heightened… _appetites_," he stressed, grinning.

I blushed again. "Oh, well um, that's good to know. Heh…" I started to giggle like a schoolgirl with a ridiculous crush. And I found that I couldn't stop staring. And staring. And _staring_.

"You seem quite distracted. Perhaps I'd better go put on a towel," he smiled devilishly.

"Yeah um, me… too… I…" I stood still, daydreaming for a moment. He patted my butt affectionately on his way to the linen closet. We'd been so consumed in the moment that we hadn't grabbed towels on our way in.

I went into my bedroom after him, rummaging through my drawers for things I wanted to wear. I settled on a cute matching pair of underwear and bra; white with different colored hearts varying between red, orange, yellow and light blue. Lucian eyed me with one eyebrow raised.

"You approve, I take it?" I asked, swinging my hips like a model, with my right hand on my hip.

"Oh I'm sure I'd approve of anything, but yes, I do," he grinned. "You also look good with nothing."

"_Wicked_ boy!" I giggled, slapping him with my towel on the butt- he was laying belly down on my bed. His eyebrow raised just a notch higher, amused.

I pulled out my favorite pair of Abercrombie sweatpants- my comfort pants since I'd been six months pregnant with Misha in the summer of 2008- and my Eastern Michigan Marching Band '06 t-shirt and slipped into them. Then I grabbed a pair of white socks and pulled my long brown hair back with a matching brown hair tie that was sitting out on my dresser.

"What's… marching band?" he inquired, genuinely curious. "We Lycans, vampires and Hybrids keep to ourselves and avoid contact with humans. I know nothing of modern culture. I've only lived among my kind and the vampires with the world safely in the distance or above. And I met one hybrid briefly. I was there for his transform-"

I did a double take in his direction. "Whoa, wait," I cut him off, "did you say _vampires_? There are _vampires_? And what did you say, hybrids? Hybrids of _what_?"

"Yes, there are real vampires in the world." He eyed my carefully, gauging my response. "I suppose I could have found a much better prelude into that discussion… and hybrids are half Lycan and half vampire, usually bitten by both, or bred by both in some rare cases." His head lowered slightly down to the bed, his eyes downcast.

"Um, wow. Okay. Vampires. Jesus Christ..." I muttered. "Well marching band is… well it's an ensemble of instrument players. You know, flutes, a piccolo or two, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets, usually mellaphones, trombones, euphoniums, tubas, and lots of percussion. Bass drums, snare drums, symbols, and a ton of other stuff, and then the color guard. It's pretty elaborate. And well all march on the football field at halftime into different formations that the crowd can see from the bleachers, and oh yeah pregame too, while playing our instruments, and the color guard dances…"

"Slow down a bit. Football field, what's that? Color guard? Mellaphones?"

I paused a moment. "Wait here a minute. You owe me a lot of explanation in a minute though, Mister. You don't just say vampires and expect the conversation to be over."

"Of course. Would you expect any less from me than an explanation?" he asked humbly, smiling though at my calling him "Mister."

"No, I wouldn't," I smiled. I disappeared into my closet, searching my small rack of DVDs- I didn't own many- and pulled out a DVD of my 2005 season of marching band highlights to show him. It was my only full year in marching band, regrettably, at EMU. 2006 had been a rocky year health-wise, though I still proudly wore the t-shirt I had from band camp and the beginning of the season. I emerged from my closet with the DVD in hand and popped it into my DVD player that I kept in my room with a small TV. I didn't have one in the great room yet. "This is Eastern Michigan University's marching band- that's the college I went to and earned my degree at- in the fall of 2005. We provide the entertainment at a sporting event called football, which I'll explain what little I know about in a minute."

I sat there pointing out the color guard to him, as well as the different instruments when there were close-up shots of them, and explained marching band and some music terminology to him like pregame and halftime and the 8 to 5 step- which required me explaining the yard lines and their purpose in football along with the goal posts- and the joys and trials of band camp, as he watched the TV screen in wide-eyed wonder.

"And you took part in this? You're out there somewhere in this group?"

"I am," I declared proudly. "I absolutely loved marching band. I had to quit the next year because I was having terrible panic attacks. We didn't know that's what they were at first though because they were so bad, so the doctors spent time ruling different things out, including during a trip to the ER because I fell over I had so much trouble breathing, until my general physician determined that it was panic attacks. By then I had missed too much of the season to continue, I think it had been about a month. I suppose I could have continued, but I would have been in the middle of a new show they'd already learned, and I figured if I was that stressed I should take it easy that fall."

"I'm sorry. That must have been hard. It's really an impressive looking pastime. It looks enjoyable, too."

"It was," I admitted. "It still hurts sometimes to think about it when the football season starts in the fall. I feel like I should be out there marching with them again, and I think how I could have had two good years of that instead of one. I'd have gone for all four, but my third year my class schedule didn't allow for it, and my fourth year I was eight months pregnant by the time it was September." I swallowed hard when I realized I'd just told him another big fact about myself.

"You have a child?" he asked, shocked, but not in a bad way.

"I do, with my first husband. We're divorced. I lost the custody battle because I'd been looking for a translator job at the time after I'd graduated, and I hadn't had any luck. I lost on the technicality that I couldn't really care for Misha without an adequate income. Look, I'm not the kind of person to just get divorced like eight million times the way people do these days, I swear."

"I believe you," he assured me. "I pass no judgment on you. I was just very surprised since I hadn't seen her here, but that would explain why. I'm very sorry. You must miss her terribly."

"I do, but I won't be able to get her back now. She's very close to her dad, Alex. He's not a bad guy, he's just very wrong for me. It's weird. He was always a very good father; he just wasn't a very good husband. He had a lot of growing up to do, and he never did. I couldn't take the immaturity anymore. I needed someone who knew how to be a strong head of the house. Not overpowering and chauvinistic, just… I don't know… strong. Able. All of that. He was too passive and timid of stepping up."

He nodded. "That's very reasonable. I could imagine the pain it caused you to have someone incapable of fulfilling some important duties and meeting your needs as a wife."

"Thank you for understanding that. I hate divorce; I really do, but…"

"But it didn't feel like a real marriage," he surmised accurately.

"Exactly." I lowered my head. "But it wasn't so hard after a while. Even though I missed Misha, I got over the divorce, and I saw her enough at the time. And then I met Emery, and everything was fine, in fact everything was wonderful. I moved to Virginia with him where his home was, and I only got to talk to Misha on the phone, but I was happy with Emery. I had someone I could love again, and someone I could actually be around on a daily basis, since I couldn't see Misha that much. I was very happy until the terrible accident... a car accident. He suffered that entire night before he died in the morning. And I wasn't there. I didn't get the call from one of his friends because I was arguing with Alex actually, about Misha, and wanting to have a reconsideration of the custody hearing. Of course he would have to consent, and he didn't. I suppose it didn't matter at that point-she would have wanted to be with her dad anyway. But anyhow… then I got the call that morning." I tried not to cry telling Lucian all of this. I had thought especially now I wouldn't feel anything talking about this, but I supposed it would never completely go away.

"I'm sorry," he said. "That must have been so incredibly awful and painful." He took my hand in his, sitting up to make eye contact. "I hope you don't blame yourself about the phone call; you couldn't have known." His eyes were kind and sympathetic. Understanding showed in his features.

"It was. And I did blame myself at first, but I finally accepted the facts and forgave myself. These past six months I just wanted to die sometimes." I took a deep breath. "But then I met you," tears welled in my eyes, and my voice broke for a moment, "and suddenly my heart felt again for the first time; things I thought I'd never be able to feel in a thousand years."

"I know that feeling completely," he whispered, and smiled softly at me. I smiled back.

"Yes, because you're my soul mate."

"And you are mine." He pulled me close into his arms and kissed the top of my head, cradling me in his arms and stroking my cheek soothingly.

We spent more time on my history than I'd planned on as I told Lucian all about the divorce and the times before it, and Emery's accident, and even when he and I had met. I felt more than a little guilty telling him about me falling in love with another man, even if it was before I met him, but he insisted to know all about my emotional journey and how I'd gotten to the point in my life I was at now. I also told him as much as I could about the world around him in which he lived, since he didn't know much about it. I promised I'd show him as much of the city as I was familiar with, and he promised the same, and I told him that I would help him ease into human life by spending as much time with him as possible. My heart fluttered at the mention of spending a lot of time with him, and he smiled widely at the prospect himself.

"It's six AM, we really should turn in now," I said, yawning. "But just do me a favor and please tell me this. Do vampires live here in the United States?"

"No, fear not. As far as I'm aware they all live over in Europe, as do the Lycans and full-bred werewolves. I was the first to come over here that I'm aware of. At any rate, you are in no mortal danger. We stay concentrated in the same area, though, in England. You can sleep sound. You're safe. And you're safe with me here, even if there are any vampires here. Most likely they would be refugees, seeking a new life apart from that which is laid out for them from birth or creation."

I smiled. "Okay. That's good enough for me. Hey, don't you want to wear anything besides my towel?" I asked suddenly, realizing he was still wearing it.

"I'm afraid I have no change of clothing. We both were in quite a rush to get to the shower…" He grinned, as did I.

"I'll grab some for you tomorrow. I guess I'll just have to sleep next to a nude hot guy. Oh darn!" I was dripping with sarcasm.

"Yes, pity," he teased, kissing my neck. He took the towel off and threw it to the floor, and my eyes grew wide, and my jaw dropped.

"Don't tempt me."

"One more round before we sleep?" He winked at me, looking very hopeful.

"Stop it," I giggled. "I'm really tired now."

"Very well, then. Good night Maya, my love. I love you more than my inadequate words can describe."

"Good night, Lucian. I love you too. I love you deeply, passionately, unconditionally, and forever."

We held each other tightly, and I fell asleep feeling more satisfied, content and secure than I had in half a year. For the first time in my entire life, I felt completely whole. There'd be time for me to learn Lucian's story later. For now I was just grateful that I'd gotten telling mine out of the way, and that he hadn't run away knowing that I'd been divorced once and that I had a daughter. He really did accept me for everything, just as I accepted him. He was one special guy, and it wasn't just because he was a Lycan. It was because he was my Lucian.

A/N: So first off, yes, portions of this story are autobiographical. Don't forget, Maya is my literary persona. Yes, I really am a band geek *cue dork chant*.

Now on to the technical stuff. I have no idea how custody proceedings really work, or if you can have second hearings later on, or if you have to have the permission of the current parent with custody or not, so I apologize if I'm wrong. I'm just trying to get the story to work to my advantage. We can't have a girl involved in a full-out Lycan/vampire war *hint hint spoiler that it's going to get more intense!*, so I need the custody thing to keep her out of harm's way.

And lastly, I'm sorry if there were any inconsistencies in this chapter, or if anything didn't make sense; I wrote it between 2 and 3 in the morning. I edited as best I could. I'm pretty sure I already mentioned somewhere in the story that the full moon was coming up in a couple of days, but I don't feel like rereading everything to find where I wrote that. So again, sorry if there's any inconsistency. And sorry my author's notes are so long.


	10. Certitude

**Chapter 10- Certitude**

I realized that I owed Maya a lot of explanation now about vampires and Lycans and Hybrids. The worst of it all was done, though. She knew that I was a Lycan, and she knew that I wouldn't hurt her. Everything else I would tell her about my past would be completely believable because she had proof enough of what I was. The world I was a part of, though, was a completely different entity entirely from just one Lycan. There was bloodlust, anger, deceit, war, and even death. I wasn't dangerous all alone, but my world was. I wasn't sure how much of it she could endure. I knew I would have to give her due credit though, because after all she hadn't run screaming in fear when I'd revealed myself to her. I tossed and turned restlessly all of that morning, drifting in and out of sleep in her bed as she slept much more peacefully. I wanted to go to the place where she was and meet her there, but I was too restless. My thoughts drifted over to the two warring worlds thousands of miles away from me between my brothers and the vampires; myself removed from them. Why had I run from the cause I'd believed in so deeply for eight hundred years? Why now? Truly, my grief had finally gotten the better of me, but it came as such a surprise to me that now of all times, later, rather than sooner, the grief had come in another strong wave.

Now I was left with a strong dilemma. Should I settle into a new and happy life here? Should I go back and fight for my Lycan brethren? What, then, would become of Maya and me? Could I- and more importantly _should_ I- bring her with me? Would she even oblige to come? And how could I live with myself if I put her in danger? I lay there in turmoil, and pulled her duvet over my head, trying to drown out the breaking morning sunlight. Her breathing was so soft and steady, and she looked so beautiful with the sun shining in her hair, casting that familiar red shade over it that I loved so. I couldn't imagine forfeiting moments like this for eternity, should especially she be mortally wounded, caught in the crossfire. But I lay there feeling overly privileged to be so comfortable and happy like this, while every other Lycan lay in filth and in waiting, vigilant for the signal of another attempted siege and attack; another attempted war. I stroked her hair and her soft skin down her neck, a melancholy cloud sinking over me and weighing down my heart. True, my brothers and I had escaped our slavery under the vampires centuries ago, but they still hunted us down. The war was far from over. Guilt began to pull me in two different directions, in abandoning either my brethren or my love lying beside me, her already wounded heart so fragile and hopeful. She had laid herself so vulnerable to me; every emotion known, ever fair, all of her pain. She had laid her trust in me. I felt selfish to even give her the chance to be put in harm's way, but when I told her about the war and that I would eventually go back, I'd leave it up to her whether or not she would come with me. She would want a say in whether I left her behind or not. And surely leaving her behind would wound her heart too much.

I felt a little better with my newfound resolve to take action and give her a choice, secretly hoping that she would say no, though. I hoped she we keep herself safe. My plans were to storm the mansion and infiltrate Viktor's guard with Raze by my side, the rest close behind, and take Viktor and Marcus out immediately. Once the main leaders of the Death Dealers were taken out, there would be mayhem amongst the vampires. They wouldn't know whose orders to follow anymore, or who to fight. There would be blame thrust upon everyone, and some of them may turn on each other. Once I had disabled them from any coherent movement as a unit, I felt my brethren could take over from there. My job would be done, and I could return to Seattle to live in peace with Maya. Ah, I was a fool. I knew it wasn't going to be that simple. Still, I held on to that ridiculous idealistic hope as I fell asleep once more.

I awoke from a nightmare gasping, and yelling out curses at Viktor, flinging the duvet off of me. My yelling startled Maya, and she woke up, concerned.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, my love. A nightmare, nothing more." I didn't seem to have convinced her though.

"Okay, but about what? I heard you yell come guy's name; Viktor or something."

"It's… it's about my past," I hesitated, afraid to tell her more. I lay down on my back, sweating, and trying to block my warring feelings from telling her about my history. Just then, I heard her gasp.

"Lucian, what are those scars on your back? They'reso long, and there are so many of them!"

"Oh they're… nothing."

"No they're not _nothing_," she said defiantly, horror written all over her face.

"I was beaten; flogged twice, a long time ago."

"That's so awful," she whispered, her voice thick with sadness and horror.

"It was a long time ago."

"But I hate to think that anyone ever treated you so brutally. There can't be any good reason for it. No one deserves to be handled that way, you especially."

We sat there in silence, and I felt her trace her fingers lightly along my back. I closed my eyes and suppressed the memory of Viktor's cruelty towards me and his own daughter; his own flesh and blood. I felt the anger burning within at the thought of the Death Dealers still living while my kind died at their hands. In order to calm myself, I focused on her gentle touch, and it soothed my nerves. I turned to face her, compassion and sadness etched into her eyes. My pain was her pain. It hurt me more than words could express that I might have to leave her here indefinitely, but my restlessness had peaked.

"Maya, I have to go back."

"What? Go back where?"

"I have to go back to the Lycans."

"I-I don't understand. Why? Is it something I did?"

"No, my darling, no it has nothing to do with you," I lamented, gathering her into my arms, and surprising the urge to weep at her feet. "The Lycans and the vampires are at war, with the Hybrids caught in the middle. This is a war that began eight hundred years ago. It began with me- me and my lover, Sonja. She was a vampire, and her father, Lord Viktor, did not approve. In fact, to not approve would be far too much of an understatement. He feared, even despised the werewolves and the Lycans. He believed we were animals; uncivilized beings. He had some form of sentiment that allowed him to be somewhat decent towards me; he had spared my life as an infant. I was a sort of pet of his. I kept myself under control, and it was my duty to keep the rest of the Lycans under control. They were all slaves to the vampires, and I was their blacksmith.

"We were forbidden to ever transform. Viktor feared us too much. He said it was to 'protect the species,' the vampires that is, but his real fear was that we would rise up and seek our own freedom; discover our own strength. He used emotional blackmail to keep us all, especially me, submissive to his will and his clan. Sonja and I were forced to keep our love a secret. One day, returning from a secret meeting, one of his henchmen, Tannis, saw us together, and he used that information as power to get a seat among the council of vampires, which had only twelve seats, and Sonja gave her place up to him to save both of our lives.

"I planned to leave one day, and to free all of the other Lycans, and I asked Sonja to join me. She said it was too dangerous, which I took as her refusal to come with me. One day, as we were meeting some dignitaries on their way to meet Viktor, some full-blooded werewolves attacked their carriage, and I transformed to protect Sonja. I also discovered that the werewolves listened to, even respected me. Viktor found out, and had me flogged as punishment, and threw me into prison to rot like so many of the Lycan slaves. I was no longer any higher than the rest of them, which was just as well; I never saw myself as any better than the rest, but yet I had never bore any ill will against the vampires either. I decided it was time to revolt, and Sonja took my side, ready to fight with me. I escaped with some of the Lycans, and asked her to meet me in the clearing, but Viktor found out. She was intercepted and imprisoned as well."

I continued with my story to the bitter end. I spoke with difficulty of Sonja's death by burning in the sunlight, and the death of our unborn child. I spoke of the war that began between our kind and the vampires, now that there was hostility between them and their former slaves. I recalled the accord I had made with Kraven. I explained about the vampires becoming known as Death Dealers- born and bred to destroy werewolves and Lycans and Hybrids alike. I spoke of Selene discovering the truth about Viktor killing her family. I explained about the Lycans' search for Michael Corvin, the descendant of Alexander Corvinus, and my transforming him into a Lycan as a weapon against the Death Dealers. I mused over Michael's genetic memories of me and Sonja. I accounted Selene and Michael's battle against Viktor, Viktor's fatal blows to Michael, and Selene biting him to turn him into a Hybrid in order to save his life, and them falling in love. I spoke of my supposed death that I faked when Alexander Corvinus came searching for the necklace around my neck, and the events that would surely ensue with Selene and Michael seeking to awake Marcus for help. They would surely find out about his twin brother, William, who was a full-blooded werewolf. I explained the significance of the necklace, besides its meaning between Sonja and me. Surely Selene and Michael would discover that it was the key to William's prison.

"I knew Alexander would come looking for it, so I pretended to be dead in the body bag. The Death Dealers weren't very thorough in checking to be sure I was dead, I suppose, so I escaped once they were sure I was dead. I'm sure by now they've discovered my absence in the mortuary. I escaped to America and got myself the necessary legal documents so that I didn't have to hide out from the law as an illegal immigrant, and I plan to sell the necklace to afford my house; it's worth enough. I've just been hiding out because of the pain. I realize now though that I can't give up on the many lives whose freedom I've fought for over almost a millennium's time now. But I am at an almost insurmountable impasse in my mind now over whether I should go back or not, because-"

"Because of me," she whispered, lowering her head as I held her. "It's my fault." She buried her face in my chest, clutching my body close to hers. I could not fathom her penitence. I did not fault her at all for my hesitation. She was more precious to me than anyone in the world, and I valued her love over anything else, even my own life.

"Maya, my love, I promised not to keep you uninformed. I would be lying to you if I told you there were no mortal dangers in bringing you with me. But I vowed to myself and to you this morning silently that I would give you the choice of whether or not you want to accompany me. I do not want to put you in mortal danger, but if being apart is as dire for you to bear as it is for me, then I will not stop you from joining me. But you will have to fight. It will not be safe for you to simply hide. You will be found, and they will find out if you have any loyalties to me. I am powerless at your feet. You have a choice to make, and I humbly await your decision."

I looked up at her with pleading eyes. I hoped she would wait for me here and keep herself out of harm's, even death's way, knowing I would come back for her. I hoped she had the utmost faith in me that I would return. All I could do now was wait in agonizing silence as she deliberated what she would choose to do. The one fact that I was sure of was that I could not leave my brethren to fight without me any longer. I had an obligation to finish what I had initiated. In this moment, however, my worst fear was realized yet again that I could lose her love forever, either by her not accepting my leaving, or by her accompanying me in mortal combat and succumbing to death.

"Maya, think this through thoroughly before you decide," I pleaded, aspirant that she would choose the reasonable option. Her eyes met mine, and fear glazed them over as she comprehended her certain death if she accompanied me. Her breath, and time, stood still.

A/N: Sorry, if you've already seen "Rise of the Lycans" then a lot of this is repeated information. Also, I realize that this is probably my shortest chapter. Please do me a favor and rate this story so far. I don't want to beg for attention, but I would like to know that I have readers out there, and that I'm doing an adequate enough of a job entertaining you, and if I should keep writing or even prolong this story as much as I can. Thanks a lot! :)


	11. Verdict

**Chapter 11- Verdict**

I froze where I stood, contemplating what my life meant to me, and what life would be without Lucian. Was it possible he could die? He was supposed to be immortal, but both vampires and werewolves had weaknesses, didn't they? What if he died? I wanted to be there to fight for him, and for all Lycans. But was I strong enough to even fight at all? I would most likely be the first one they'd pick clean. Lucian clearly had warned me how fatal it would be for me if I didn't fight at all though. Naturally I wouldn't settle for sitting on the sidelines while he fought for his and his people's lives anyway. I wasn't the type to sit around while my loved ones faced their fates alone, whatever that fate may be, and however certain.

I couldn't sit alone in silence, not hearing from him, and not knowing what was going on while he was gone. I couldn't stay here in Seattle while thousands of miles away I had no idea if he was dead or alive. And I simply couldn't handle missing him. Just as awful, if not worse, what if I lost my life, even if he survived? Then what would we have accomplished? Then he'd be without me, and I'd have died with no chance to have survived. For that simple reason, if I were to die- and how could we predict that outcome? The odds were not good- I would be better off staying home.

It was indeed a terrible impasse, and I had no doubt in my mind these were the same exact thoughts Lucian had running through his mind. Plus, he probably knew in great detail what could and probably would happen to me if I went with him. My heart was defiant and unyielding though. Even if I died, I would die for him. All of the ambiguity of his fate aside if I waited at home, I knew in an instant before I was asked to deliberate that I couldn't leave him to fight this battle without me. It mattered to him, so it mattered to me. I had to be a part of his life and what mattered to him, and what was right.

Sadness and fear plagued his eyes. He saw immediately in my face what I had decided.

"Maya, have you gone mad? You can't-"

"You said it's my decision and that you wouldn't stop me," I said more harshly than I'd meant, staring him down. My eyes softened, and I stroked his cheek tenderly. "I have decided to be with you through whatever you go through."

"I won't let you to die," he whispered, his eyes brimming over with tears. "I have a much better chance of surviving than you do."

"I can't just sit here in Seattle miles away while you're fighting hard and when you might die."

"I won't," he said stubbornly, but confidently.

"I'm going. You said you wouldn't stop me if that's what I wanted. It's what I want. And to use your exact words, it would be too dire for me to be without you. Why won't you give me a choice like you did Sonja? She chose to meet you in the clearing in the face of death. Given the circumstances at that time, she had every chance of dying as I did because Viktor was after her at that point, and he knew exactly how to kill her just as he would know in an instant how to kill me." I wasn't sure if I should regret those words or not; bringing up Sonja like that and making a comparison between Sonja and then and me and now. I wasn't sure exactly where the words had come from. But the words hadn't hurt him. In fact he realized that I had a point.

"I'm sorry, my darling. You're right. I should give you the choice to take my side and stand by my side. This is an extreme act of love for me. I'm humbled that my concerns are as deeply your own now." He kissed me intensely with passion, and I held him closely, prolonging the kiss. "I will do everything in my power to ensure your safety. But should the unthinkable- the _unbearable- _ happen, your life will be on my conscience. I will never forgive myself if you die because of me."

"And I'll never forgive myself if I'm not there," I asserted. "How can I ever promise you for better or for worse if I can't stand by your side when it matters?"

Despite the severity of the moment, Lucian froze where he stood, silently rejoicing it appeared; a shocked but joyous look on his face. "For better or for worse? Maya, do you mean to tell me that you intend…"

"To marry you? Yes. When you propose to me." I fairly beamed at him, unable to contain my joy either. "It would seem only right to marry my soul mate."

"My dear, I'd propose to you but I think you just proposed to me!"

I held his hands. "I guess I kind of did. Usually the girl doesn't propose, though."

"Well, I accept your proposal, Maya. I have nothing to give you though, no token of my affection…"

"We'll worry about that later. Your love for me is enough, and will always be enough. Don't you know that?"

He nodded. "Of course. As yours is always enough for me." His face became grave and focused again, with a trace of despair. "Now hurry, my darling. We leave tonight. Take nothing with you, it will be of no use to you anyway, except for clothing. Bring any debit or credit card you have too, so that we can pay for all that we need to pay for until the auction. I will have to prepare you as best I can to fight against the vampires."

I packed a backpack of clothing, and a toothbrush and toothpaste for good measure, and we were off. I locked up while Lucian grabbed clothing from his house. We met in his backyard, and he emerged from his house with a leather suitcase, and grabbed the pendant from the hook under the roof. We got into my yellow Crossfire, and headed to the train station.

"We will take a train to Boston, where I have a distant acquaintance there who I met by chance ten years ago in London. He is a jeweler. He will evaluate the worth of my pendant, and arrange a private auction for it. The spoils will be collected, we will pay for a round trip plane ticket, and the rest of the cash will go into this brief case. We will use what we need for a train ride, and when we are twenty miles out of the city we will carry on foot. The transportation time should be adequate enough to give you a rough tutorial in combat."

"Where are you going to stash the briefcase? That's your real estate money."

"Leave that to me. I will find a place when we arrive in England. I need to be certain I've found a place where no one, vampire, Lycan, Hybrid, or human will find it. You never know what anyone who finds a case of hundreds of thousands of dollars will do out of greed."

I nodded wordlessly. My head was beginning to spin, and I was beginning to feel as though I'd taken on too much. We were on a train to Boston by 2 PM. Lucian began to prepare me for battle, trying to be as quiet and discreet as possible with other passengers on the train.

"When you're in battle, you're going to feel a rush of adrenaline and emotions, some fear, some anger. You must fight as hard as you can to suppress these emotions, as the intensity will distract you from protecting yourself. Always aim for vital organs or the head, not just any limb or any part of the body. You cannot afford to be compassionate to your enemy, even though I know you will want to be. You can show no mercy, and not give them so much as an inch, or they will kill you. Your goal is to maim, and to kill, not to injure. If that is not an option with your first attack, then your objective is to incapacitate and immobilize, and then kill. When a spearing weapon is thrust at you, you block it. If you have no weapon in hand, you jump, duck, jerk, twist, dart, or whatever you have to do to avoid the blow, and if you have a weapon in hand, you simultaneously thrust the weapon at your enemy _as_ you are avoiding or blocking their blow.

"If your weapons are knocked from your grasp and you are engaged in physical combat, you try to knock your enemy down, or force such a blow that they are turned in a direction where they cannot see and anticipate your next move. You strike, you disorient, you disable, you terminate. You must be swift at all times, and as you're executing a move, you're already strategizing your next. Though they will be trying to disorient you too, you must try to anticipate their next move before they anticipate yours. You will have to rely heavily on instinct that you didn't even realize you've had; that you've never used before. You will have to anticipate multiple enemies coming at you at once, and you will have to learn how to strike at two or three at a time, using both arms and one leg.

You will have to listen for all suspicious sounds. Any rustling, you must instantly identify the direction it's coming from, and you will most likely be hearing more than one sound at once. Move your eyes, but not your head, unless you are turning to combat an enemy already in your range. Pause only a second or two to listen to a sound, for every blink of an eye is crucial to your survival, and keep moving, but move slowly, especially if you are outdoors in the middle of a clearing. A still target is easier than even a slow target. If they try to engage in threatening and combatant conversation with you, do not respond; it will only slow your reaction time and distract you from the accuracy and effectiveness of your attacks.

Finally, remember this. Vampires can be killed by the sun, or by slashing. We will provide you with guns loaded with a new weapon we have created; ultraviolet bullets. You will be given a sword and its sheath, as well as a dagger. Conceal the dagger for a last resort; you must have at least one weapon they do not know about at first. Keep the sword within reach. Werewolves and Lycans can be killed with silver or also by slashing. The vampires have bullets with silver nitrate. It goes straight into our bloodstream, so if we are shot with those bullets, they more than often prove to be fatal."

"But not always?" I asked, my mind reeling.

"I have survived such bullets before I escaped here to America."

Disbelief and curiosity plagued my mind, and I withheld the compulsion to ask him how he survived. We discussed our general plans to meet up with the Lycans and form a plan of attack with them when we got there. The first Lycan we would look for would be Raze. The train halted at our stop, and we hailed a cab. We met up with Lucian's friend Griffin in Boston, and he appraised the pendant's worth at $250,000, which would be the private auction's beginning price. Griffin arranged the auction for six PM that night. The bidding was heavy between the five blue bloods that attended. In the end, the winning bid was four hundred sixty thousand dollars. Lucian collected the money from the bidder in cash, and organized the stacks into his briefcase.

We found lodging in a Hyatt motel, and I could instantly feel the fatigue settling in as I took a long, hot shower that night. I allowed the water to spill all over my muscles, knowing that they'd be much sorer within a maximum of two or three days' time. Lucian and I had barely spoken a word all afternoon or night since discussing our rough draft of plans on the train. It wasn't that we didn't want to speak to each other; there just wasn't much to say. The stress and fear was settling in, and the easiness of spending lazy mornings and nights in bed together for the moment were over. We were now facing our own mortality, or at least, my mortality, and Lucian's potential mortality given the right weaponry. I laid my brush down after running it through my hair a couple of times, and stared at my reflection, wrapped in a towel, in the mirror. I examined my healthy, vital skin, and imagined it tainted with dirt, blood, and punctured in places. I pictured my clothing torn and mangled, my hair wet and dangling in my face, and all pink and rosiness in my skin drained. I imagined myself laying suffering on hard, cold ground as footsteps thudded all around me, snarls ripping through the air. This may be the last time I'd ever see my own reflection. This may be one of the last moments I was breathing easily. This may be one of the last moments I was alive at all. I pressed my hand against the mirror and leaned my forehead on it, closing my eyes and resting against the downward-pulling exhaustion that these thoughts weighted me down with. From where the door was cracked open, I could feel Lucian's burning gaze upon me. I inhaled deeply and turned to face him, afraid of what I'd see. I didn't want him to be as afraid as I was.

His face was twisted in agony, but when I turned around he quickly reorganized his facial muscles to conceal it. He smiled with as much confidence as his sinking heart would allow, but his eyes betrayed him. I knew he feared for me. I would have to be confident for the both of us, but I didn't feel that way now. I had never gone to battle in my life; I'd never even thrown a punch before. I even yelped in agony when I stubbed my toe. I lowered my head in despair, and Lucian arose to go and shower, too. As he passed me, he took my hand and held it a moment as he kept walking, releasing reluctantly, and his gaze never straying from me. A knowing expression crossed his face. We both didn't speak what we both knew; I had little to no chance of survival. We had made a fatal mistake.


	12. Apparition

**Chapter 12- Apparition**

I watched her in a trance-like state from the washroom as she removed the towel from her now dry frame, her wet hair hanging down her back and cascading into slightly unruly waves. I almost regretted to see her dress, and our gazes finally dropped to the floor. This was no time to panic, but rather this was the time to savor every breath of her; the very sight of her. I focused not on her weakness as a mortal, but on my strength as an immortal Lycan- a warrior. I would protect her from harm. It was a distraction that she could not afford to protect me, but that I could afford her. I would fight fiercely, but I would have my eye on her at all times. She had even more of a disadvantage that she had never fought before. Everything she did would be new to her and every mistake she made and learned from could be learned from too late, should the mistake be fatal. Everything she learned would be as she went; as she fought.

I stepped into the shower and pressed my face into my hands with despair. Now that I was out of her sight I could shed the tears that had been threatening to break through. I could not let her know that I was despairing for her. She needed as much confidence as could be spared, and I was doing her no service by allowing my face to show how afraid for her I was. I was a wretched, wretched fool, and if my life could be taken to save hers then I deserved death a thousand times over. I should never have given her the choice to come. My selfish desire to never be apart from her, and even her selfless and compassionate desire to help me, were not forces strong enough to save her from her own mortality. I had all but lured her here with the threat of being apart for a while, and it was at my hand that she would now face her own mortality rather than be saved from it. I had an obligation to have left without giving her the choice to join me. The joke was on me now. Of course justice would not be given to me; surely it would be she who would die, and not me. I could have returned to her safely when the war was over and have not lost her, but now I had condemned myself to more grief for however much longer I would live. It was an injustice; and injustice at my own hand, but an injustice nonetheless. And even more the injustice was the life I had robbed her of the minute I'd dragged her into a war she had nothing to do with. I had an obligation to be here, not she.

My thoughts shifted to the future that I could almost clearly see without her, stretching on bleakly for decades and decades until my mortal death. I thought of the endless nights I would lie alone. I thought of the insatiable desire for her, body and soul, that would burn in me forever at the mere thought of her. I thought of many hollow thoughts that I should not be thinking of, and the anguish they triggered made me hunch over, heaving with nausea. I finished showering, brushed my teeth, and put on some clothes, but stopped short at the sound of a male voice in the motel room. I peered around the door and froze. There, not two feet from Maya, stood Alexander Corvinus. He was completely translucent, an apparition, and he spoke to her.

"You must understand that you, Selene, Lucian and Michael are the last hope for both bloodlines. There is a hidden prophecy that neither of the covens have seen that is written down and concealed, never to be found: 'To end the war requires one female vampire, and one female Lycan in league with one another. The two warrior princesses shall possess the charisma and fierceness required to turn the hearts of them all and cause their ears to yield. Their will shall bend to the two princesses, and the diplomacy of each shall allow for the two warring clans to adjoin. There will be an end to the bloodshed for all eternity.'

"Do you understand, my child? You, Lucian, the female vampire, Selene and her Hybrid, Michael, must cooperate together to find this female Lycan. You will know who she is when the time comes."

His translucent form vanished, and I stepped cautiously around the bathroom door. Maya looked confused, and was frozen in wide-eyed disbelief. I knew I had missed some of what Corvinus had said to her, but I had overheard the most curious and interesting of all. A female Lycan? I had never seen a female Lycan in my entire eight hundred years, and I was suddenly filled with questions as to how many Lycans there truly were, and where they were all located. Who had created them? And had I gone mad? Or had I truly seen what I'd just seen?

"Lucian, did you just see and hear that?" she asked, reading my expression.

"Alexander Corvinus?" I confirmed, hoping that was what she meant.

"Yes. So I'm not going completely nuts here?"

"Apparently not. I thought _I_ had gone mad."

"Who is this female Lycan he told me about?"

"I have no idea. I've never seen a female Lycan before. Men tend to have more strength, so we never turned a woman. The vampires needed slaves with strength. Someone from my Lycan clan must have done it. It brings up an entirely new concern about how many Lycans they may have turned, and where in the world they exist, and whether or not they keep their identities veiled and control their hunger for blood."

"Alexander said I would know who she is when the time comes. What in the world does that mean?"

"I wish I knew, love. What else did he tell you while I was showering?" I asked, making sure I had all the information I might need.

"He told me about Marcus and William, and everything he could about werewolves and vampires; everything there is to know."

"I am sorry that I did not get around to telling you about Marcus and William and our origins. I didn't plan on ever returning to England, and I had figured as a background story it could wait. I hadn't counted on having you with me during any of this war and you needing to know all of this here and now, so it wasn't crucial for you to know, like knowing my history with Viktor, in order to understand me. I am sorry though, my love. I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"Lucian, it's okay. We were just starting to learn all of the facts about one another. I don't hold it against you."

"There is nothing in the world that could make you angry with me, is there?"

"Not so long as you're honest and faithful, which you are," she assured me. And she was correct. She leaned over on the bed to where I had sat next to her now and kissed me, a gentle smile on her face. It was too much. In that moment I was so afraid of losing her that I began to kiss her with so much passion I thought I would burst. I would show her my love as though there were no tomorrow, which there very well may not be for her. I loathed myself, and, forgetting about this female Lycan Corvinus spoke of, I concentrated solely on being intimate with Maya. I kissed her with a fierce desperation for all of her; as much of her as I could breathe into my soul before we went off to fight the deadliest battle. Her intensity matched mine, and we clung to each other as we succumbed to each other's unyielding passion. I shivered with delight as her hands trailed down my back and around my hips as she sat in my lap, facing me. Our clothing was off as quickly as it had been on, and she gasped as I began to trace tiny circles all up and down her body.

"This will _not_ be our last time," she hissed through her teeth as I kissed her neck.

Tears welled in my eyes, and I pulled her on top of me, kissing her mouth, her forehead, her cheeks, her neck; anything to keep me from completely breaking down. I channeled any sadness I began to feel into passion as it washed over me in waves. The more I kissed and caressed her, the louder she moaned, her fingertips massaging into my most sensitive muscles all over my body. I cried out her name in ecstasy tainted with grief, and began to breathe harder when she allowed me to enter her at last. As much as my body longed to thrust harder and faster each time our bodies ebbed and flowed, my heart begged me to slow down and prolong this moment as much as I could, but every time I did slow down she would pick up on my distraction and increase the pace, forcing me to meet her at that sweet intersection where our bodies were closest with her rhythm. Sweat dripped from my forehead and from every pore, saturating the sheets below me as I tried and tried to fight off the end, but it was useless. The more I fought it the more tension there was in my muscles, which only brought me closer and closer. Her sweet moaning and sighing of my name only resonated in my mind, causing that ache for release to become more urgent. I found myself uttering her name over and over again, each utterance closer and closer to the last, until at last I was so lost in her that I forgot all about resisting and gave in completely. For the next several moments I was lost in the waves that rendered me powerless, gazing helplessly into her vast and expressive eyes as we released in complete synchronicity and longing for more. We shouted each other's names at the same time, and grasped each other's hands tightly, toes curling, legs entwined, bodies rigid and not daring to ease a muscle until we were sure the last wave had rippled through.

Through my deep panting, I whispered hoarsely to her, "I will fight like hell to be sure of it. This will not be our last time because I _will not_ allow it to be."

She kissed me deeply and stared into my eyes lovingly. "I know you will. I love you, Lucian."

"And I love you too, Maya. You must have been born to be a part of my world for Alexander Corvinus to appear to you after his death and tell you of a secret prophecy. It's like you were given the gift to talk to angels. Or it must be that you are the angel," I sighed.

"I don't know about that. I'm no angel, but I know for certain that I was meant for you."

I pushed her hair back from her forehead, and she pressed hers to mine.

"I am a selfish fool," I lamented. "My bringing you here was wrong, and almost cruel. If you are so much as wounded I fear I will never stop loathing myself."

"_Stop_," she insisted, a strange new confidence in her voice. "I'm glad you gave me the choice to come. I could never just sit around while you're fighting like hell for something that matters and something that's right. I know that I'm a mortal and that I've never fought before, but you have to give me some credit. I'm an intelligent woman, and I'm strong-willed, and people used to go to war all the time throughout the centuries, sometimes with no training, and no experience, and they saw the frontlines of battles and became heroes, and most certainly survived. I feel a strong pull to be here, and I have this strange confidence that it's all going to be okay."

I felt guilty that I indeed hadn't given her much credit, but it was only out of fear for her life and being without her, and out of my love for her and obligation to protect her. It was in this moment that I realized just how poorly I had failed to instill the necessary confidence in her. I was so proud though, that she had found it all on her own.

"I am sorry, my darling. I truly am. And here you are, speaking with the ferocity of a warrior. I trust now that you will reign with your relentless drive in battle. I cannot and will not doubt you any longer. I only fear for you because you are a mortal. Please forgive me that I cannot completely eradicate every ounce of my fear. It is only because of how much I love you."

"I know," she whispered. "But you have to trust that if we're meant to be together that we won't easily be separated. I have enough faith in that single fact to trust myself against the vampires, as afraid as I am, too." She took my hands in hers, and I laid my elbows gently at our sides. "Just stick close to me or be sure one of the Lycans is near me as much as possible, and I have no doubt it will be alright. Now please, just kiss me and let's enjoy this moment together. We won't get a moment's peace until we return to Seattle with a bunch of men nearby, now will we?" She winked.

"Not unless you enjoy an audience," I chuckled.

"Um, no. As wonderful as I'm sure your Lycan friends are, I prefer my only audience to be you when I'm moaning your name like that, or when you're moaning mine." She blushed.

I kissed her and smiled. "You're wrong, though. You a_re_ an angel. You're _my_ angel."

She sighed my name into my mouth, allowing our kiss to linger. "And you're mine."

This mortal angel, the one I loved so dearly, was hand-picked by Alexander Corvinus to help us find a female Lycan who would put an end to this raging war. I was amazed with her in so many ways. She was an angel who could speak to angels. As my awareness vanished into the heat and passion between us once again, I forgot all of my fears, and let the ferocious passion of the Lycan within take complete hold of me in the bright silver sheen of the full moon illuminating our emblazoned forms through the window.

A/N: As weird as this sounds, the song "She Talks to Angels" by The Black Crows was my inspiration for this chapter. I was originally going to make the apparition be of Sonja, but then I realized that might be a little too weird to have his dead love and his new love talking, especially since he sees part of the apparition; also that it didn't quite fit the story for the apparition to be her. By making it Corvinus, it helped me tremendously in setting up the story for some of the ending chapters.

I'm thinking of including my playlist for this story in an author's note in the last chapter of the story. Let me know if you'd be interested. Some of the lyrics to some of these songs fit the story and the general story of "Underworld" so well that it's unbelievable.

Also, I hope you took the word "emblazoned" figuratively enough, and didn't think I actually meant that Lucian and Maya were on fire, lol.


	13. Vision

**Chapter 13- Vision**

I lay there awake, looking into his eyes, trying my best not to let mine betray me. I was more afraid than I would let on, but I wasn't lying when I said I was confident. I had a feeling that this moment was ordained long ago by forces beyond our control, and that everything would turn out alright as the prophecy Alexander Corvinus spoke of stated. It would be quite a hitch, however, that Lucian did not know who, or where this female Lycan was. Would his men know? Was it one of them who had created her? Would they even own up to it? I felt like the deeper I was pulled into this centuries-old war, the more questions I had than answers, and yet I was learning so much as I went along.

Lucian stroked my hair, and his touch jarred me from my reverie. I ran my fingers through his, a melancholy smile on my face. I wasn't sure if I was on Earth, in Purgatory, or in waiting for Hell; but the battle aside, I knew that when I was next to Lucian I was in Heaven.

"All this talk of me being an angel," I mused tenderly, "and yet you never even considered once that you might be the angel, and not me."

"That's quite impossible, love," he said, smiling, his eyes beginning to close sleepily.

"It's not so impossible," I countered. "You've handled me with such care from the beginning. You're gentle with my body, with my emotions, with my heart, and about how you tell me about your world and bring me into it. Only an angel can behave with such grace. An angel or a Lycan," I amended with a grin.

"You may not find the other Lycans as gentle as I am," he laughed in spite of himself. "They will do you no harm, but they're a bit brash and a bit blunt at times."

"But not you."

He hesitated slightly. "Normally, yes. You will see a different side of me when we're fighting the vampires, though. I hope you are prepared to see me that way," he cautioned.

"Yes." I nodded with certainty. "Yes, I'm prepared. It's not like you'll be lashing out at me. I can take it."

"You won't still see me as an angel."

"Yes I will." I would stand my ground on that forever.

His lips turned up, and he exhaled contentedly. "And once more I don't give you credit where credit is due. But I fear that you do idealize me too much."

"I wouldn't say that I idealize you. I just see how good you are, through and through. Do you know how rare a find you are in a man?"

"I suppose I don't," he said thoughtfully. "I never was one to bring attention to myself vainly."

"Well that's all the more attractive. Still, take my word for it, Lucian; you're as rare and beautiful as men come."

He kissed me, sending the electrical current through my body that would never lose its intensity over time. "Get some rest, my love. You will need all the strength you can get for tomorrow. There will be a lot of travelling, a lot of walking, and not a comfortable place in sight for sleep. We may not even sleep as we refine our war plans."

"Okay," I whispered, adrenaline beginning to pump through me and threatening to cancel out any sleep I might be able to get. I swallowed hard and steadied my breathing as best I could, concentrating on Lucian beside me. He was the one person who would be able to soothe me now. I prayed silently that neither of us would be taken from the other. "I love you so much, Lucian. Never forget that, even in battle."

"I could never forget that, my darling. I love you too, Maya, for eternity. Good night; sleep well." His words were so definitive. If I were lying in the face of certain death on the ground, his words tonight would resound in my mind as I lay dying; my last comforting thoughts.

"Good night. You too."

We held each other close, and I drifted off into an anxious sleep. Even in such a perfect moment, nothing could have prepared me for the images I would see in my dreams that night. The images came to me one after another in a confusing montage with seemingly no chronological organization; a young female vampire tied to a pillar with sunlight shining through a portal in a high ceiling; eyes with ashen blue irises staring viciously into mine; a female's form from behind transforming into an irate and sinuous Lycan, her roar echoing into the dark twilight under a waxing gibbous moon; a silver dagger held over the heart of a form I couldn't make out; a fearsome-looking creature with fangs, talons and a bluish pallor to his skin; my frame leaning forward as I blazed with high speed toward armed vampires; myself holding hands with another young female vampire with short hair, our arms raised in triumph; Alexander Corvinus' words: "one female vampire, and one female Lycan in league with one another;" and Lucian looking onto me in fear and sorrow, refusal on his face. "NO!"

"NO!" I woke up screaming, breathing heavily and sweat pouring down my face. "What _was_ that?"

Lucian did not wake up at the sound of my screaming, which left me there to ponder, as my breath gradually slowed, if my dream might not have been prophetic. And yet I couldn't make out every image I'd seen, or make sense of any of it. What the hell was going on? Or was my brain simply warning me to give in to my fear and cower away?

_Never_.

That morning Lucian and I caught an early flight at seven AM out of Boston to London. The seven hours droned on uneventfully. Lucian and I held hands almost the entire time, trying to catch a bit of sleep here and there. I was itching to listen to my iPod sitting at home miles away, and my thoughts drifted to my cozy bedroom where it lay on my nightstand. I tried to picture where I'd be sleeping tonight, if I slept at all, in stark contrast to now. Would I be sleeping in the middle of a forest somewhere? Would I be bunking out low below a sewer somewhere? Lucian said vampires and Lycans didn't typically interact with humans- I imagined I may have been one of the first in a long while. And what of the Lycans? How would a group of all male half-werewolf creatures think of this frail mortal coming into their world unannounced, stating that she wished to fight with them? Surely they'd think I- and Lucian- had gone mad. And it occurred to me with a start that they may not even know he was still alive. He said he had narrowly fought through death after being shot with silver nitrate bullets. Maybe this wasn't a good omen at all, even with Corvinus' apparition the night before. Maybe this was the mark of Armageddon. Nothing in the Bible was certain to be the actual foretelling of the end of the world, and Revelation was all symbolism only meant for John to understand- maybe I was at the brink of the end of the world; fire and ice. Surely though, this war was something monumentally marking history, whether many knew of its happening or not.

I shook my head to clear it of such thoughts, and began to obsess again over my dream, or nightmare, I wasn't sure which. I was still deep in thought, lines set hard into my face, when the plane landed. Lucian shook me gently out of my reverie.

"Come, love. We must find a cab to the train station."

"Okay," I nodded.

When we boarded the train, Lucian had more instructions for me.

"Maya, what I have to tell you is very important. From this moment forth, your morals are left at the door. When we reach the limits of the city where the vampires and Lycans are, you will make no eye contact with any humans in order to avoid bringing any attention to yourself. You will shroud yourself in mute and indistinct colors. Everywhere you move, move swiftly, except as I told you before when you're in a wide-open space. All transportation you can hijack is fair game. Whatever weapons you find, you poach. We will provide you with ammunition and munitions, but once the battle is in full force you will stop at nothing. Do not hesitate to pry a weapon out of the hands of a dead vampire- or Lycan. Any death on our side is tragic, but a weapon is of no use to a dead man; it is of use to keep you alive. And finally, if you have to be creative, be creative. Throw things as a distraction. Break something that will start a fire. Throw water onto something that will electrocute. Anything that's heavy that you can shove into an enemy's path, shove it with all your might. Even a few seconds of time that you buy yourself could save your life and allow you to make a move or make an escape."

"Okay, the weapons thing I can understand, but grand theft auto? Jesus Christ, Lucian!"

"You cannot afford to be without a high-powered vehicle! This isn't just warfare; it's very modern, high-tech, and _deadly_ warfare. Remember that each side is using ultraviolet and silver nitrate bullets, respectively. Anything you can use to plow into your adversaries at high-speed outside the gates of the mansion, you use. You will have to be _ruthless_."

"Shouldn't I just stay in the car then and fight them that way?"

"No. It will only do you good outside the mansion. Once you're there, you'll eventually have to get out and fight one way or another, either with a gun or your sword or dagger. You need to be out of the car to really make a good shot or strike at each vampire you encounter, and besides they would fire at your vehicle without a second thought with the intent of destroying it- with you inside. Then use the vehicle to make your escape if you see our enforcements retreating. We only retreat to restock munitions, if there are none left and we can find nothing else, and to reconvene and revise our plans of attack."

"Okay. So the plan is hijack, poach, plunder, pillage."

He smiled wryly. "Something to that effect, yes. I know it seems very hard to absorb all of these instructions right now, but believe me, once this is all happening, you will not think twice about doing any of it. It's all for your survival, and everything you do, every step you take, every tool you utilize is for your survival."

"I'll be in the heat of the moment."

"Yes," he confirmed.

"Wow, this is some convoluted undertaking, here," I breathed, my head still spinning and attempting to comprehend.

"Just don't think twice about anything you do. You haven't done this before but you'll find that your instinct will take over a lot quicker than you think as you move. Just concentrate on your surroundings; who's coming at you, and what they're doing, where ledges and corners and nooks and pillars are in the room, and your brain will react." His eyes shifted out the window as the train began to slow. "Now here's our stop. We're heading straight to the sewers where the Lycans convene. We will search for my closest friend and second-in-command, Raze."

"Alright."

We stepped off the train with our backpacks upon our backs, and headed towards the city where the vampire's mansion was located, and the underground lair of the Lycans. My heart pounded nearly in time with my feet as we walked more than briskly towards the most surreal experience I would ever witness in my entire lifetime. I tried to swallow the impending sense of doom as nausea and bile threatened to escape my throat.

A/N: Another kind of short chapter by about a page, sorry. The whole spiel Lucian gives about the weaponry and everything was so much more dramatic and almost frantic in tempo when I constructed it in my head; I probably should have written it down right then and there. I suppose it sounds more like Lucian though to come out very controlled and planned out. Maybe it turned out better this way, rather than being rushed and frantic. Lucian keeping his composure and being so assured is truer to form anyway.


	14. Blueprints

**Chapter 14- Blueprints**

Maya was very quiet as we travelled on foot toward the city. It wasn't quite as big or as ornate as London, but it was big enough for a coven of Lycans to hide out from the world; the infrastructure, especially underground, allowed for it. I wanted so much to say something supportive to her that would increase her confidence significantly, but I already felt that I had failed her enough as it was. She was already scoping between confidence and doubt as it was, and I blamed my foolish fears and my inability to hide them. I didn't want to make things any more difficult for her, so I let her be. I clasped her hand tightly in mine though; in hopes of showing her that I would not abandon her. This seemed to pacify her enough, because her facial expression would soften and relax when I'd give her a reassuring squeeze now and then. As we were nearing the city limits, she rummaged in her backpack and retrieved a navy blue sweatshirt. Plenty ordinary and inconspicuous; she was learning well. She pulled her hood over her head; it was a considerably blustery and chilly day, so no one would find the hood over her head suspicious, either. When we arrived, she was already casting her eyes downward.

"Remember, no eye contact. You can look up and around, but just don't give anyone a chance to so much as blink and remember you. Even brief eye contact makes you memorable," I whispered.

"Got it," she confirmed.

I led her to an alley that was not frequented much in the city, and removed a loose manhole cover to climb down into the sewers.

"A manhole into the ground. This is almost cliché. It's so much like a classic vigilante story. Like Bruce Wayne- did Bruce Wayne hang out in the sewers or underground? Maybe not…"

"Bruce Wayne?" I inquired.

"You know, Batman."

"He's a vampire?"

"No he's- never mind."

I paused, curious.

"I'll explain it to you later. He's a fictional character."

I nodded, distracted. "Shall I go down first, and watch for your safety from below, or from up here?"

"I'd prefer if you went first," she said.

"Alright. There's a bit of a jump from the ladder to the ground. It's fifteen rungs down, and then a three-foot jump from there."

"Okay."

I climbed down and jumped from the ladder expertly, with Maya following me a little more cautiously in the dark. She landed with no trouble from the jump, but she let out a grunt when she landed, a little startled, on the ground. We walked about a hundred feet down a corridor, and I guided her that entire distance until we reached an ovular light with bars around it, sending off a sterile, white florescent light through the tunnels in a chain of many lights like it. We twisted trough the sewer system, walking the distance of the underbelly of the city until at last we reached the lair of the Lycans. I cleared my throat, and a stunned recognition passed through the faces of the entire group. Pierce, one of my men, and Taylor, came to greet me.

"Lucian! Lucian is that you?" Taylor called out in disbelief.

"Yes, it is I," I said.

"We thought you were dead!" Pierce lamented, relieved to see I was well.

"Yes well, I do believe the saying is that you can't keep a good dog down."

A general rumble of low chuckles arose amidst a crowd of familiar faces.

"Gentlemen," I announced, facing them all, "I am alive and well. My abilities are evolving yet again, as I have discovered yet another strength that I possess. I was able to push the silver nitrate out of my body in its liquid form through the exit wounds, and I have survived Kraven's attack. I hid far from this city, in fact from the continent, and laid low until I was sure the Death Dealers believed I was dead. I was in America when I met Maya. She is here to help us fight; she w_ants_ to help us fight."

A general outcry of disbelief and irritation arose amongst the men, and I found myself growing weary as I realized that Maya's introduction was not going as I had planned, and that she had not been well-received. In that moment, when I realized how insane that would look to them, I understood their concern and irritation, but all the same they did not know Maya, and I intended to see to it that they accepted her.

"_Gentlemen_! Maya is a woman pure of heart, with a ferocity even as a mortal that is unmatched by a soul I have ever met. If Maya says she will fight with us, then I have no doubts that Maya will succeed."

"Lucian, when will you just take a lover of your own kind?" someone jeered from the crowd.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You've got to stop with your pets. First a vampire, and now a _mortal_?"

"She is not my pet!" I shouted, my temper flaring and nearly getting the best of me. "I loved Sonja, and she was my wife, and Maya," I paused and looked into her eyes "I love even a thousand times more than I loved Sonja. You should be humbled by her compassion, _all of you_, for you. You, who she hasn't even met, who she finds worthy of a fight in her that she's never even had to rouse before. And besides David," I glared at the Lycan I was sure the voice belonged to, "there is not a female Lycan alive that I know of. _Is_ there?" I stared out accusingly into the crowd. Maya's eyes glazed over, and she smiled at me appreciatively. I changed my eyes ever so slightly to acknowledge her tenderly.

"Maya and I saw an apparition of Alexander Corvinus stating that there is indeed a female Lycan out there somewhere, and that she is the key to our ending of this war. I must know who created her while I was away. Your discretion would have been instrumental in deciding to turn a mortal and unleashing her unto the world to roam free apart from us. And now we must find her. We must also find the vampire, Selene, and Michael Corvin. _Well_? Who turned her?"

"Have you gone mad?" a voice jeered.

"Turn a mortal into a Lycan?"

"Why would any of us damn another soul to being a Lycan, the coven at the bad end of a war? All that would do would be to put a mortal in certain danger. To be a Lycan means to be a vampire's enemy."

"We would not thrust someone into a world where they automatically have an enemy!"

A panic arose amidst the Lycans, and I held my hand up. "Silence! _Please_, I need to know who turned her! I am not Viktor, and you will not be punished. I need to _find_ her though, and she does need to be taught her own digression with which she must act in order to not give our identity away. I also need to know if there are any other newly-turned Lycans and where they are. Speak up!"

The silence was maddening.

"Perhaps Raze can tell me then," I said, knowing I could trust him.

Pierce and Taylor lowered their heads.

"Lucian, Raze was killed not long after we thought you were. It was at Viktor's hand," Taylor said quietly.

"He was filled with rage and the overpowering desire to avenge you when he thought you were certainly dying," Pierce added reverently.

"Raze," I said quietly, grief washing over me. "_Viktor_," I hissed; I nearly spat his name.

"Singe was killed too," Pierce said. "He told us that if you survived, he has instructions on how to make your anecdote in a vault in the laboratory. He said that you'd most likely be able to mix it yourself. That is, if you truly choose to leave this life as a Lycan."

"Yes," I said, my voice flat. I took a breath so as to not let everything I felt wash forth. "Gentlemen, I need a moment. I trust that when I return you will be prepared to discuss a plan of attack on the vampires' mansion. From the back of the crowd, a lean figure removed a hood from a long jacket, revealing her short hair, pale skin, and ice blue eyes. Another figure with an ordinary hooded jacket stood beside her.

"Good, you are here. I trust you and your Hybrid will be prepared to join league with us?"

The female vampire nodded her head, and spoke in a confident alto voice. "Yes." She and the Hybrid, Michael Corvin, exchanged glances.

"Yes," he agreed.

"Good. Now if you will all excuse me, I need just a moment."

Maya met me with eyes full of concern, and I communicated with my eyes for her to follow me. She pushed her way through the crowd of my brethren, and I led her around a corridor to a place where I often went to think; I'd had many centuries of life experiences and often needed a place to filter it all through my mind away from the noise of so many men. I sat down in a room we had constructed underground to think. Maya sat down next to me, and took my hand in hers, tracing along my palm with her thumb absently.

"We can wait a few days; give you time…"

"No, Maya. I'm alright."

"No, you're not."

"I'm hurting, but I'm alright," I insisted.

"Are you doing this just to be strong for them?"

"Yes. But please understand why. The death of two old friends of mine just gives me more reason to push through. I'm not acting strong just to be strong. I'm _being_ strong so that the life we envisioned can finally be a possibility. We have all collectively dreamt of a world where Lycans and vampires and Hybrids can all live in peace with each other and accept each other. Raze especially would not want me to just give that up."

"But I'm not saying give it up," she protested. "I'm just saying take a day to nurse your wounds, and bring yourself to better focus when you're out there."

"I promise you, Maya, I'll be alright. This will simply _help_ me focus. It will be my drive to keep going. Raze and Singe would not want me to stop, they would want me to plow through the pain because it's what I've always done. They would want me to act as I am; as they know me. I would not be me if I didn't keep going with my belief ever as strong."

"I understand now," she nodded. "If you're sure you'll be okay, then I believe you."

"I will," I said. "I did want to come here for a moment and think of them. I met Raze within days before Sonja's death, so he has been with me a long, long while. It wouldn't be right to not take any time at all to pay my respects."

We sat there for a while in comfortable and serene silence, and acceptance finally washed over me, setting my soul at peace.

"Well Raze old friend, I hope you are happy wherever you are now. Singe, I am forever obliged to you for being so thorough about my anecdote. You thought ahead in case I ended up not being able to complete the full regiment."

Maya suddenly sat up rigidly as she remembered something. "Lucian, you haven't taken the anecdote since we left! You didn't bring it with you!"

"It's alright Maya, it's all for the better that I haven't. Now than ever I am needed as I am, as a full-blooded Lycan. I am the strongest of them all, and my strength would have been diluted with the anecdote doing its work and me being so close to the end of the six months." I sighed as I became aware of the time. "We should hurry back. Night will be falling soon and we need to plan our attack."

By nightfall we had solidified plans to infiltrate the mansion's security, breach the main room where the council convened, and attack as many of them as was possible so that selecting candidates for new elders would be circumvented, and work our way down the chain until there was enough confusion and mayhem that the vampires didn't know whose orders to follow anymore. Some of the Lycans would seek out the female Lycan so that when the time came that the most powerful vampires were not there to stop us, we would be able to unleash this warrior princess upon those who were left, eventually forcing them into surrender, and into giving up their attention to her and whoever the prophesized female vampire would be. I learned from Selene and Michael that they had defeated both Markus and William after Markus had been awakened, and that Selene had slain Viktor; Markus had slain Kraven upon his awakening. I could not help but feel the bile rise in my throat at the mention of his name, and felt the venomous sting of disappointment that he had not died at my hand; that was a battle I had been bitterly saving for last. I supposed, though, that it was for the best that he had been slain already. It made the task at hand to take the vampires under siege a slight bit easier. After the biggest threat of them had been taken out, our prophesized saviors, a female of each race, would speak to them they would all yield, as would our kind, and heed the warning that our kinds must coexist to not eradicate either completely. We would show them Michael, a civilized example, and the only living example at all, of a union of the bloodlines, should more couples like Sonja and I had once been fall in love, or couples like Selene and Michael had been before he was turned into a Hybrid; he had once been a Lycan after all. There would be a long battle and a great many casualties ahead of us until the female Lycan was found, but we were prepared. The pain and agony of eight centuries would soon be brought to an accord, and we all lusted after that more hungrily than we did after each other's blood.

A/N: Please, I hate to be that person, but I need to ask that you guys review this, I need some feedback, if nothing else, to tell me that you're enjoying the story.

Also, I have no idea if Taylor and Pierce actually died in "Underworld." It probably doesn't matter though, because their characters aren't even shown in "Evolution," so it's not like I'm messing up any major continuity. I just needed someone Lucian knew to break the news about Raze and Singe. If Taylor and Pierce died, then I can always change it. I think that's all I wanted to say for now.


	15. Alliance

**Chapter 15- Alliance**

At dusk, it was time to move. I was armed with two glocks full of ultraviolet bullets, two swords sheathed over my back, and a dagger hidden under my pants- strapped around my calf. The entire time Lucian had been speaking, the one female vampire, Selene, who was among the crowd, apparently on our side, had not taken her eyes off of me, curiosity burning in her eyes, and neither had the Hybrid, Michael. Now, as we traveled toward the mansion, the two of them stole sidelong glances at me now and then. Selene leaned her head towards Michael, and he nodded, and with her eyes on me, she advanced toward me amidst the crowd.

"I didn't have a chance to introduce myself back at the Lycans' hideout. I'm Selene."

"Hi, I'm Maya," I said.

"I need to speak with you about something," she said, and her face was intense and full of unspoken questions. "Last night, I had a visitation from the spirit of Alexander Corvinus; I'm sure by now Lucian has told you who he is."

At once, my body went rigid, and my eyes went wide. She seemed to understand what was going on in an instant with my body language and my facial expression, which was full of shock.

"I see he visited you, too."

"Yes," I nodded. "So you must be the prophesized vampire."

"And you must be the prophesized Lycan."

I froze for a moment as our troops marched forward. "W-what?"

"You're the prophesized Lycan Corvinus spoke of."

"No, I'm a human," I said, confused.

"I saw in a dream last night a female Lycan who in her human form looked just like you. Long, brown hair, brown eyes. You're the one who will ally with me to speak to the vampires and Lycans."

"That's impossible, I'm most definitely not a Lycan," I assured you.

"Lucian will have to turn you, but you are most certainly Corvinus' prophesized. My guess is that this will take place tonight during battle."

I was too stunned, too afraid, to say anything. Would Lucian really turn me? I didn't mind, but if he did I would hope he wouldn't just do it without warning out of his own private agenda. He wouldn't just use me to do his bidding, would he? But that was impossible. I was the one who had seen the vision. Lucian had seen the vision too, but it had been intended for me, and Lucian was not the type to use anyone. He wouldn't have planned on using me anyway if he had been completely surprised by the apparition. He'd spent a good few decades of his life _being_ used and fighting against that. So that left pretty much one answer, then. I was to be mortally wounded. This would not be an easy transformation. I barely even had the capacity to comprehend what becoming a Lycan entailed for me; I was too busy concentrating on the pain I'd surely endure. But what if the prophecy was broken? What if wherever and how ever I was wounded, Lucian couldn't get to me on time? Or what if it weren't even going to be Lucian at all who would transform me? Not that there could be anything gentle about biting a mortal to change them, but I figured he'd be the gentlest with me out of all of the Lycans, given their cold reception of me earlier. And I was hardly a warrior princess. That was the part I had the most trouble fathoming that Corvinus had spoken of.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm almost completely positive," Selene assured me. "We were ordained for this. You and I will stop the war."

I was terrified of how things would happen, but an overwhelming sense of purpose washed over me at this notion. I felt honored that by the forces of… I didn't even know what; I had been chosen to bring peace to two warring peoples.

"And you are with us one hundred percent?" I inquired hesitantly.

"Yes. You don't have to worry. My loyalties are not easily swayed. I left the vampires because of the deceit that had been handed me all of my life until I discovered the truth. All this time I had been lead to believe that Lycans had killed my family, and that it was the sort of thing they did all the time. I have come now to learn the truth from Michael's genetic memories of Lucian's past, and Viktor's admission of the same. My loyalties, and Michael's, lie with who is right, and who is good. Lucian helped me save Michael's life. I had thought Lucian to be dead, twice now, and now that he is indeed alive I intend to fight by his side. He wanted a union of both sides all along."

"That's right," I said. "You know he almost fathered a Hybrid, like Michael, too," I added.

"That's what Michael has seen. Killed by his or her own grandfather along with Sonja. Viktor never did have much pity for those he considered family," she said flatly, flinching at her own words, but only slightly in the corners of her eyes. She was a hardass, to the very core. She barely let her emotions show at all. In a way I admired her for that. I nodded, not wanting to bring up her painful memories any further. She was trustworthy, and that was all that mattered.

"We need to hurry; we've fallen behind the group."

She nodded, and we both picked up our paces.

"Selene!" Lucian called. She turned her head in his direction. "Do you know the code to the mansion?"

"I did, but I'm sure they've changed up all of their security codes and devices by now. I'm not welcome anymore," she said flatly, her stare fixed straight ahead and intense.

He nodded. "Then we will drive a car straight into the door after we've knocked over the gate. Alright men, whatever cars you can hijack, do it now. Get ready to attack. When we show up at the mansion and take it by storm, the vampires will immediately hear the commotion of our vehicles."

With that, the Lycans, Selene and Michael all scattered through the streets, breaking into cars, equipped to get them to open and to start. Lucian and I ran in search of the nearest vehicle we could find, and I found myself giddily mounting a silver Vespa parked in the street. I had never ridden one, or any motorcycle before, and I felt a surge of joy despite my fear. The adrenaline pumping through me was more anticipatory now, rather than dread. I was ready. I had never been more ready in my life for a fight, but this war had crept into my veins and my entire consciousness before I'd had a chance to even decide if I wanted it to, and I could see my destiny being shaped before me. Sometime tonight, I would become immortal. I would become a Lycan. I could not tell Lucian, for he would probably try to put a stop to it if he knew I was the destined female Lycan, so though we could have used a higher number of enforcements, I allowed some of the Lycans to go in search of the female Lycan that they did not realize was standing right there before their eyes all along. Sure, I wasn't transformed yet, but I was their answer. The Vespa was not a closed in vehicle, but it didn't matter. It was all we could find. As it sped through the night behind all of the other cars, I was prepared to possibly have to jump off of it while it was still in motion to attack.

Lucian directed me through the city until we arrived at the mansion. One of the Lycans at the head of the procession of cars rammed right through the wrought iron gate, and a squeal of tires alerted the vampires within seconds that we were there. We didn't have to have anyone drive through the door to the mansion; they came storming out, bullets flying, just as the others were getting out of their cars and Lucian and I dismounted the Vespa. He ran with a ferocious, guttural scream from his throat towards the first vampire he saw, a rage taking over him that I had indeed never seen. I headed through the melee of fighting without much time to think but rather only to react, swords unsheathed, stabbing and slashing at any vampire I could find and preventing them from cocking their guns, and, with the express intent of infiltrating the mansion and locating where the council convened, I blasted forward without looking back. Wherever they were, they were surely being kept in hiding for the sake of the coven. My ears alerted me to a vampire coming at me from behind as I made it halfway up the drive. I spun around and ducked just as he aimed his gun towards me, then jumped up and knocked the gun out of his right hand with my left foot, spinning to my left to get more pivot in my turn. From there I launched my back into his body with my elbows pointed behind me to jab him, knocking him to the ground, and then I flipped onto my knees onto his stomach before he could grab me and impaled his throat with both swords in two places, blood spilling to the ground. I was immediately back on my feet as I saw two more running after me. I sheathed my swords and grabbed my guns as quickly as I could and unlocked the safety locks, aiming for their chests and firing a few rounds towards each. Their bodies hit the ground immediately with a thud, their eyes still open. I took a swift look with my eyes, and listened hard with my ears over the screams of pain and firing of guns and the swish of swords, roaming the front grounds of the mansion for any more immediate threats to my life, and saw none. I stormed through the open doors and began to turn around corridors at full speed, my guns back in their holsters and my swords unsheathed, ready to impale and slash any guards I came upon on my way to the heart of the mansion. My instincts told me I'd be able to tell who the council members were by the way they were dressed and by the simple fact that they probably _would_ be concealed in the heart of the mansion, but I was prepared to take out anyone on my way in.

As my eyes roamed the empty hallways for my adversaries, I remembered Lucian's words to move slowly, and I realized that through my rush to get in, I had made a lot of swishing and rustling noises. I kept my feet silent, listening for any sound penetrating the silence other than my own footsteps. I gazed above as often as I did side to side, unaware of how their ventilation system was set up, and not knowing if there were entry points through the ceiling or not. My heart was thudding in my chest as I heard groans of agony outside, and I realized that I had no idea where Lucian was anymore or how he was doing. I hadn't even seen him at all in my line of sight since I'd been attacked by the three vampires.

I whirred around just as I heard footsteps increasing in volume behind me, and almost let out a scream until I saw it was Lucian.

"Lucian, oh my God, you scared the shit out of me!" I whispered hoarsely.

"I'm sorry, my love. I saw you headed for the mansion and I could not let you enter alone. I've been here before, and I know my way around. You must let me help you. I'm also aware of who the council members are."

"Okay. So I guess the plans fell through to take them out first."

"Yes, I should have known better, I suppose it only stands to reason that they would protect their strongest leaders when under attack. Our men will just have to keep the mob outside distracted so that there are less of them watching over the council members, weakening their protection. I thought their bloodlust would rule over cowering in fear, but they are most likely convening as we speak to elect their succeeding elders with Viktor, Markus and Amelia all dead. I didn't think they would be holding such a meeting at a time like this under siege, and it leaves them prone, much to our advantage. Now follow me, love. And be prepared to fight hard and concentrate like you've never had to. There are twelve council members and only two of us."

I nodded, already trying to envision how such a battle might ensue, and what I would have to do to both protect myself and Lucian, and take down six of them or so. When we arrived at a large arch in the middle of an open room with a high ceiling, we paused around the doorway so that Lucian could assess the situation, and give a possible last minute strategy to taking out the council. His face dropped though, as he looked wild-eyed into the room and realized there was no one there.

"I don't understand. Where is the council if they're not here or outside?" he hissed. His eyes were wild and ferocious with anger and confusion.

I didn't have time to react or respond though, because someone had come up from behind me and clamped their hand over my mouth. I let out a piecing shriek just as his hand descended over my mouth, trying to send a hard blow to his leg. His voice rang out into the mansion's walls in a low and menacing growl.

"_Lucian_. And here I thought you were dead for good this time."

"_Viktor,"_ Lucian hissed through his teeth, and my eyes grew wide and my heart began to beat fast. Viktor was supposed to be dead! "So did I," he growled fiercely.

"It wasn't enough that you helped me give the gift of mortality to men and turn _them_ into uncivilized beasts, but now you have to defile yet _another_ woman?" He paced about slowly, forcing me to move in numbed fear with him.

"Release her!" he growled. "She is of no concern to you, and she is not a Lycan."

"So you fell for a mortal? Defiling the civilized was always your strong suit now, wasn't it? But you are quite wrong, Lucian. She is on the side of the beasts, and she is the reason you're still alive, I imagine. It would give me great pleasure to dispatch your last shred of hope, and you," he drawled the last word. "So yes, she is of high concern to me." I let out a muffled scream behind his hand as he held a knife up to my throat "Stay back, Lucian, unless you wish me to dispatch of you immediately as well," he shouted over his shoulder, and with that he swished around and began to drag me off.

"NO!" Lucian yelled, and echoing off of the walls reverberated a low, guttural growl, and I saw with relief and terror his shadow grow and morph ahead of my captor. We were in greater danger than we'd thought, I realized, as Lucian's large tendons knocked me out of Viktor's iron grasp, grazing my cheek, and I yelped in surprise from the scratches, and as my head hit the ground, touching my hand to the back of my head. Viktor lunged forward at Lucian, and two men who I guessed to be council members descended upon me. As I removed my hand from my head to remove my UV guns, blood flowed from my sodden scalp to my palm, and down my wrist and my arm. My vision went blurry and I struggled to hold consciousness as Lucian and Viktor's snarls filled the night.

A/N: I'm sorry, this is my first action sequence that I've ever written, and I hope it was done well enough. I decided just to do a few short fights first to test the waters and see how I do; first in front of the mansion with the one vampire and then the two, and then Viktor knocking Maya to the ground to attack Lucian, so I apologize if any of it was anti-climactic with my abrupt ending to the first fight scene. I promise to work hard at the chapters to come to make them exciting, so don't be surprised if you don't see my story updated for more days than usual, but rest assured that I'm working on this story as faithfully as ever. I don't mean to keep asking for reviews, but especially now, please let me know how I'm doing with the action and violence. Rating subject to change to M, and probably will within the next couple of chapters. There's already been one impaling, so I doubt this will stay T for long.


	16. Damned

**Chapter 16- Damned**

I surmised the good work Selene had done on Viktor for the first time when he'd appeared out of nowhere in the large mausoleum where he, Markus and Amelia had been kept safe, and regretted that I'd had to forge my own death and keep my eyes closed when this had happened. I would have derived such pleasure to watch Viktor lose a half of his head. A large bandage wrapped around his forehead at a diagonal, with holes cut over his eyes so that he could see and over his mouth and nose so that he could breathe and speak. Selene had sliced the diagonal half of his head clean off, and obviously some time after I'd left the morgue, someone had bandaged the rest of his head back on and given him enough blood to regain his strength and heal the dismembered flesh, blood vessels, nerves and bone. I should have known he'd be strong enough to survive even an attack of that magnitude. Just as I was the strongest Lycan, he was the strongest vampire.

Maya's rounds went off in the background as Viktor and I circled one another in the wide open room. We did not use the modern day guns that everyone else was using though. We had learned to fight the old way, and this was how one or the other would go down. Our swords clanged against each other with a cold percussion immediately following the grating, high frequency scratch of unsheathing them. I had waited for a rematch against Viktor since eight hundred years prior, and as I hadn't defeated him then, and my ally hadn't succeeded either most recently, it was my turn again. I would be successful this time, for my sake, in Sonja's memory, for Maya's sake, and for the sake of all of the men and the brave vampire who fought together outside these foreboding walls. I whirred around mid-combat just in time to hear two agonized screams, and two vampire corpses on the ground; Maya had impeccable aim, and had hit them both dead on in the hearts. A small upward trail of smoke drifted from the holes in their chests, and the flesh immediately around the exit wounds disintegrated before my eyes as it burned from the UV bullets.

The mausoleum was not the most advantageous place to be fighting; there were no ledges I could jump down from, no nooks to hide in to surprise attack from or corner Viktor into, nor any holes to push him into. Everything I was doing was dependant on the utmost strength, agility and concentration. I turned around again when I could, only to see that Maya had disappeared. I tried to subdue my panic as I concentrated again on the fight. Wherever she was, either the remaining ten of the council had taken her, or she had run off to take them out herself. Either way, I could not hear her anymore, so I knew she was a good distance from me and Viktor now. I blocked two high-force blows of Viktor's sword with mine, and knocked him down, stepping on his leg and swiping at his chest as he blocked my blow. He thrust my sword back up at me and rose to his feet deftly, taking a low swing at my legs. I jumped over the blade and ran my sword into his at an "X" mid-air, backing him into a wall, but he kicked himself off of the wall and forced me down to the ground. I blocked a nearly fatal blow to the head and hooked my leg behind Viktor's, sending him flailing to the ground now. His sword slid behind me, in front of him, three feet away and he landed on top of me. He grabbed my neck with two forceful hands, and I grabbed his back, yanking him to the left where he hit the floor again on the side of his face. I lunged for him, but he knocked my sword out of my hand, and it spun across the floor and hit the wall, recoiling just far enough toward Viktor that he could grab it. I crawled backwards on my hands and feet swiftly and grabbed his sword, pointing it as his throat just as he was about to swing at me again, but he looped under and headed for my stomach, which I blocked as well. Suddenly I heard more gunshots in the hallway, and turned to see Maya surrounded by four corpses at her feet. She was a quick shot. I didn't know how many council members she had killed now, but I heard more rounds going off some distance from her, and she was out of my sight yet again.

"Your anger suits you," Viktor declared, a sadistic smile crossing his face.

"And your bandage suits you," I retorted, snarling under my breath. "You're now a victim to your own kind, just as my people were to me." I was fighting everything in me to not transform into a Lycan again, but I wanted to fight Viktor man to man. My previous transformation had only been long enough to get him to release Maya and allow her to escape to safety; or so I'd thought until the council members had shown up.

"That was your own _choice_" he shouted, "for the exchange of your safety and favor under me." He thrust my sword towards my throat.

"And _what was the other_, to be mistreated like them, and to be _disposed_ of?" I used his sword to block his blow, and I knocked my sword out of his hands.

"No. _That _was the consequence of defiling my _daughter_!"

"And her death as well?"

"She also broke the _covenant_!"

I held my sword and his over my head, ready to strike, but from behind me came two more council members, and they yanked the swords from me.

"Lucian, LOOK OUT!" came Maya's panicked scream. I kicked them to the ground, and she shot them where they lay. She swayed slightly where she stood. "I killed eleven of them, but there's still one more lurking around somewhere. She fainted in the doorway, and hit her head hard against the arch as she collapsed to the ground and onto her stomach.

"Maya!" I shouted as Viktor headed straight for her with the two swords that he'd taken off of the dead council members' corpses. I climbed onto his back, causing him to hit the floor just inches from Maya's body, with the swords pointed at her.

"You will not take two lovers from me," I snarled.

"You are a _fool_ to protect her," he spat.

Suddenly her eyes opened, and with two clenched fists, she rose to her knees and grabbed the two swords from him just in time to attack the last council member and knock the silver nitrate gun from his hand. He took off running like a coward, and Maya ran after him with a fierce look on her face that I had never seen before, and with a speed I didn't know she was capable of. Now Viktor stood, as did I. With Maya using our swords to attack the last council member, we had come to physical blows. Breathing heavily, fists clenched, I felt the power that I had only just discovered the last time I had fought with Viktor. Now I had rid my consciousness of any subservience to this monster, and I felt no guilt in triumphing over him. He struck me hard in the face with his balled fist, and I lunged forward to strike back. He grabbed my arm and attempted to twist it, but as he was about to I grabbed him by the back of his collar with my free hand and yanked him backward enough that I could use the counterforce to yank my arm free and punch him in the throat.

Viktor fell to the ground, sputtering, and grabbed me by the leg, causing me to collapse where I stood. Meanwhile I heard Maya returning, obviously having defeated the last council member. She leaned against the arch, and then she fainted again, her guns falling to the ground beside her. The blow she had taken when I'd knocked her to the ground had been quite severe, and I immediately regretted that I hadn't been more tactful in how I'd freed her from Viktor's grasp. He crawled over to me as I attempted to stumble to my feet, pulling me down again and punching my jaw multiple times before I was able to grab him around the neck and throttle him against the wall. Rubble crumbled around him, sending a cloud of dust through the room, and he rose to his feet and threw a piece of the wall at my head, which I ducked, and it crashed a few feet away from Maya. I growled, and my reaction set him off. He tried to throw another piece, now purposely at Maya, and I redirected the debris' landing, causing it to hurl into his stomach and pin him momentarily against the wall. Viktor pushed the large piece of the wall off of himself and ran towards me with his arms outstretched, intending to knock me over or strangle me, but I grabbed his arms and flipped him over my head onto the first piece of rubble that had nearly hit Maya, his middle back cracking in places. He groaned angrily, and with a sadistic look in his eyes, leaned over with his fangs bared as if he had the intent of biting her. I ran toward him at full speed and grabbed him from behind, tearing him away from Maya. We wrestled on the floor in an equal struggle of force for the next few minutes, our snarls filling the room.

From over in the doorway, I could hear Maya groan, struggling to regain consciousness, and I prayed that one of the Lycans would find her and take her somewhere safe.

As we wrestled around, Viktor taunted me.

"You do realize that I was right about how _savage_ you truly are. That is why you and your kind were given your _shackles_."

"I only became savage when the time came to protect _my _people and my _wife_," I hissed. "When I transformed it was to _protect_ her against the werewolves that attacked the human nobles. Then I transformed again when your cruelty towards the Lycans had gone _too far_."

"It was _forbidden_!"

"Well maybe if you had _trusted_ us or at least _me_ to use my Lycan for good then you wouldn't have forbidden it so _strictly_."

Maya's breathing was labored and rapid, but deep. She was coming to. Her groans of confusion gave way to steadier breathing as her lungs slowed down and the oxygen flowed through her body. Viktor was aware of the change as well, and his eyes widened and the same sadistic smile crossed his face as he pushed me aside and rose to his feet.

"So my child, Lucian wishes to make you immortal," he laughed menacingly under his breath. "Well I can offer you the rewarding side of immortality." He crept toward her, fangs bared once again, and I ran from behind him and jumped in front of him, pushing him backwards until he stumbled head first into the wall behind us, causing more rubble and debris to fall down. He growled, and kicked me down to the ground, his foot on my chest. I groaned, and tried to slam my fist on his leg to shift his weight and wriggle free, but it was of no use. Just then, Viktor unsheathed a silver dagger from his side and raised it over my heart.

From the stillness of the room came Maya's piercing scream.

"LUCIAN!"

A/N: I'm sorry that this chapter is pretty short, but it's still pretty action-packed, I would say. Tell me what you think!

I just discovered that I made a pretty bad boo-boo while watching "Underworld" for research purposes (it was quite recreational too!). Apparently the entire council was killed with Amelia. Oops. So this is a new council then, chosen in the state of emergency after Viktor was *supposedly for my story* killed by Selene. I will have to write that in and edit the first mention of them when Lucian says he knows who they are. I'll write it so that he knows how they dress. I have to edit minor little nit-picky things anyway so eventually I'll have all of my chapters fixed for tiny things I caught later on.

Please review! Thanks!


	17. Finished

**Chapter 17- Finished**

Time moved in slow motion as I saw Viktor raise the dagger over Lucian's heart. _Not him_, my mind was screaming. I lunged my body forward, pumping my arms, body rigid, and forcing through the air and all of the wind resistance from my fast movement as best I could. I thrust myself down under the knife, pushing Lucian out of the way, and felt a sawing, agonizing burn as the knife ripped through flesh and muscle in my left side.

"NO!" Lucian screamed with terror and preconceived grief. Just then I heard a shuffling noise, and turned around in time to see Selene push Viktor into a wall as he lost consciousness momentarily, and Lucian turned around as well, grateful to see her. Viktor's body hit the floor, and Lucian and Selene ran towards me as I lay there, coughing up blood and struggling even more to hold my consciousness than before.

"Maya, Maya speak to me! Say something, anything!" he demanded, pulling my face up from my side to look up at him. "Maya, look at me, I need you to say something."

"Bite me," I whispered pleadingly, struggling, blood gurgling forth.

"She's losing blood fast Lucian, you'd better do as she asks," Selene instructed coolly.

"NO. NO, I will NOT turn her into a Lycan! Do you understand me? I make no apology for who I am, but I will NOT turn her into a Lycan!"

"You have to," I managed to yell, "it's the only way! If you don't turn me I'll die right here, right now."

"No, we'll get you to a hospital…"

"It will be _too late_," Selene stressed.

I rolled back over onto my side, coughing up another small pool and struggling to breathe.

"DO IT," I hissed, gasping for air, and clutching at my side. I ripped the dagger out with a yelp.

"No," he whispered, tears streaming down his face.

"Listen to me, Lucian. I just met you recently and fell in love with you. I just recently got to start all over again after losing Emery and experience this overpowering joy in being with you, and if I die now then I won't get to love you anymore, and I am _not_ finished loving you, do you understand me?"

The room spun and swirled around in my vision, and I felt my eyes becoming heavy. As I faded slowly out of consciousness, I grabbed Lucian's hand and squeezed it hard; he was my last shred of hope for life, and the Lycans' and vampires' last chance for peace and accord. "Bite… me…"

The next thing I knew, I heard his sobs pick up in tempo, and I felt the feeling of about twenty or so spikes driving through the flesh in my shoulder, and I groaned, biting my lip. My heart rate increased, and I began to sweat. I suddenly had a splitting headache, and I realized that that was about as literal as the description of my condition got. Blood ran out of my nose, and just as I thought the pain was too much to bear, I felt my blood congealing, and my chest exploding with pain.

"Oh God, I think I'm having a fucking heart attack," I shrieked, clutching at my sweatshirt, and surprised at how easily I ripped through it without even intending to. I flipped over to my knees and clutched my chest in agony with my right hand, my left hand holding me steady against the ground.

"No, Maya, you're not…"

"OH GOD!"

"Maya, Maya listen to me, look at me. LOOK AT ME," Lucian commanded.

I looked up, tears streaming down my face.

"Maya, your body is changing. You have thicker blood now, your skull is widening, and you're growing an extra set of ribs. In just a few moments you're going to grow talons and fur, and your vertebrae and bones are going to expand in order to allow you to grow larger when you morph into a Lycan."

I nodded tersely and closed my eyes as I allowed my body to shift, crunch and stretch. Through the pain, a sudden peace washed over me as I realized that Corvinus' prophecy was finally coming true. Lucian helped me lie down on my back, and took one of my hands, and Selene took the other; both of their stares were intense and concerned. Selene kept her emotions in check, but I could see that she was just as scared as Lucian.

"Mortals usually die within an hour of being bitten by either of us, how could you have asked me to do this?" he asked Selene in a panic.

"Lucian, it's her only chance. She has a better chance of surviving with your bite than anything else. Besides, I can assure you this will end well. It was foreseen."

He looked at her in surprise, and then understanding, his eyes blazing with wonder and fear. "This was prophesized." It wasn't a question, it was a confirmation.

"Yes."

"Maya is Corvinus' prophesized female Lycan."

"Yes. She was meant for this. She will live."

I wailed and twitched on the cold floor, giving way to the pain, knowing it would be over soon. I could feel my bones and muscles growing and stretching at an alarming rate, and felt a strange sensation of something breaking through in each of my fingers; the talons. In this moment the pain was so intense, and it was everywhere. I tried to concentrate on something, anything, but nothing could distract me. I tried to concentrate on Lucian's hand holding mine, his soothing voice, and our future; even that didn't help in this moment. I was praying hard for the end- _my_ end- to come. I knew there was more to this seemingly senseless pain than met the eye, but it was so miserable and consuming.

I lay there, and my consciousness waxed and waned regardless of my transformation. Amidst what I could only inadequately describe as delirium tremors, I could almost swear I saw a female vampire with long, dark hair. She looked a bit like Selene- actually a lot like Selene.

_Sonja._

She spoke slowly and softly to me. "It's alright, Maya. You're almost a Lycan. I was sent here to tell you that Emery is alright, and he's happy. He's also happy for you. He and I will be looking after you and Lucian. We were merely preludes to the love you two will share together for eternity. Lucian has let go of me completely, and it's alright for you to completely let go of Emery. It's time now for you to be who you were destined to be, and to be with who you were destined to be with. Now go and help create the world that Lucian and I saw for the vampires and Lycans alike. I know you will take the utmost care of Lucian, and he will of you."

She smiled at me. "And Lucian does not have to know that you saw me. He will not need to."

Just as quickly as she came, she dissipated into thin air, and I lay there, feverish and imprisoned in my painful immobility. I heard Lucian's soothing words, and Selene's encouraging words. Both were telling me that I would be fine. Selene told me that I'd come farther than anyone who'd been bitten by an immortal that didn't have some pure strain of the virus that made them immortal, namely from the Corvinus line.

I had a will to live. I had a will to fight. Not just this fight between two divided peoples, but this fight for my life, and this fight for me and Lucian. I was surviving this virus because I _wanted_ to. If nothing else, Lucian was worth it. I doubted very much that anyone else had ever been bitten out of love- besides Michael, who was also immune to the deadly effects of the virus- before, and so out of fear and intense pain, but no reward for surviving, they gave up. They succumbed to it, and didn't fight. This was my fight though, and so I had to survive. This was my destiny. I lay there and stopped praying for the end. The pain would end, but not me, not Lucian's and my love, and not my legacy. I would not cease to be here, tonight.

Just then Michael came running into the room.

"What the hell is taking you guys so long- Jesus Christ, what the hell?"

"She took a stab to the side to prevent Viktor from stabbing Lucian with a silver dagger, and so Lucian had to turn her to save her. She's turning into a Lycan," Selene informed him.

"Yeah, I can see that now. I recognize the way she's twitching. I must have looked something like that when I was turned," Michael said. He bent down to me. "It's alright, Maya, you look like you're getting pretty close now. Once you've been completely transformed you won't feel that pain anymore. You'll heal at an alarmingly fast rate."

I concentrated on what Michael had said, because he was the only one in the room who knew what it was like to be turned into a Lycan. Selene had been turned into a vampire, and I didn't know what that was like, and Lucian was born a Lycan, so his transformation, so to speak, would have to have been at conception or in the womb during development. Michael would know how much more of this excruciating experience I would have to endure.

Just then, I heard a grunt which could only have come from Viktor, and I knew he was regaining consciousness. Lucian bared his teeth, an intense loathing and seething anger burning in his eyes and carved into his features. He was struggling to not transform; I could tell. I felt the same burning in me as I snarled and sprung to my feet. My body expanded out in an instant into a blue-black furry creature, magnificent and strong, and my breath came out of my nostrils in loud, reverberating puffs. I bent my head slightly forward, my eyes darting around the room, and I felt an easing of my pain and a surge of strength and energy coursing through my body.

Viktor sneered, appraising me from head to toe.

"So, it is done. I told you, Lucian, the girl is indeed of concern to me. You _have_ turned her, and now she is one of you. She is my sworn enemy, and no more than an uncivilized beast. It will do me great pleasure to kill her before your eyes before I kill you. Then I will deal with the Hybrid before Selene's eyes, and then her. You are all done for."

The rage was as consuming as the pain had been just moments before, and with that empowering rage, I leapt forward until I was just feet away from Viktor, and let a roar rip through my chest. I would not let him kill my savior, the man I loved, and my two allies. There would be hell to pay now, and Viktor's threats were deemed empty the moment my vocal chords defied his haughty outburst.

A/N: I'm going to try to make this into as many chapters as I can, but I had a pretty defined plot ahead of time, so it will be as long as it will be.


	18. Bloodlines

**Chapter 18- Bloodlines**

"Most impressive," Viktor's voice echoed through the catacomb. He stepped closer to Maya and looked her in the eyes. "Defiant, like your creator."

"He's not playing God like you are," Maya hissed.

"You will hold your tongue, _Lycan_."

He began to circle Maya slowly, never taking his eyes off of her. A fear and anger like bile rose up in my throat.

"Well Lucian, I wouldn't expect you to follow the covenant after breaking it centuries ago. I also never expected this kind of treachery. She is an _abomination_."

"She is a female of my kind! _Would you have me call a female vampire an abomination_?" I shouted, ready to rip him apart.

"Vampires, male or female, are not uncivilized."

"_Maya_ is not uncivilized!"

"Maybe once she wasn't uncivilized, but now she has become like _you_," he spat. "She is another beast that destroys…"

"What? That destroys your kind? _Your_ kind destroys _my _kind!" My voice rose higher in anger.

"To protect the species from your _rabid_ men!"

I caught a slight movement out of the corner of my eye. It was Selene. She inched slightly closer to me, shuffling a sword from behind her back to my hand. I tried to slowly extend my arm to Maya to hand her the sword while Viktor paced, but he caught the movement and grabbed it from me in the blink of an eye, locking Maya's neck in his arm once again with his hand over her mouth and holding the sword up to her throat. She didn't scream this time, though her eyes widened, and she shifted slightly and fluidly to grab the dagger she had from under her pant leg, and thrust the dagger into Viktor's heart with a swift and accurate backwards motion. She knocked him with force onto the floor, and stomped her foot onto his chest.

"Karma's a bitch, and now you're going to die the way you nearly damned Lucian to. The destruction ends with _me_," she hissed.

She looked over at Selene, and she nodded. "Sorry, Viktor," Selene said flatly. She shot him in the heart with a UV gun, and with that, he was no more.

We hurried outside to drag the council member's bodies outside, as well as Viktor's. At daybreak the bodies would burn and it would be as though those vampires had never existed. There would be no chance at all for Viktor to come back from this. Dawn hadn't broken yet, but most likely with the hours that had gone by, it would soon. We had to hurry. When the last bodies had been dragged out, Selene and Maya nodded at each other, and holding hands, they walked out into the middle of the mayhem, and raised their clasped hands into the air. I was filled with pride and love for Maya as a hushed silence fell upon the mob of vampires and Lycans. She spoke loudly and clearly, and with a great authority. I was compelled to listen to her, and couldn't see how any other ear could fall deaf to what she had to say.

"Gentleman, ladies- a word. The council of vampires is dead, and Viktor is now slain for good." An outcry of anger arose amidst the vampires. "_Children of Corvinus, listen to me!_" The din calmed down as the pale faces in the crowd tried to conceal their tears. "This time of war is to end _now_. If we're all fighting each other then no side is less civilized than the other, and Viktor and his hand-picked council will not allow the violence to stop. It is time for a new era where we can coexist together peacefully, Lycan, vampire, and Hybrid alike."

Selene spoke next. "Lucian was the first to understand that we need to be as one. Even amidst a life of slavery and cruelty toward his kind, he fell in love with a vampire, and he valued her life above his and all others. He wanted his brethren free, so there was a war that began, and he was especially angered when Sonja was unjustly murdered. He did have visions for a united life though. He turned Michael Corvin into a Hybrid as an attempt to unite both sides. _Look_ at him!" The crowd turned towards Michael, but they did not attack. "He looks like a regular human being like all of us do right now. He is not attacking. When he does attack, it's out of self-defense, not just for mindless killing. Before he was a Hybrid he was a Lycan, and before that he was a human. And even as a Lycan, he saved my life. He's another Lycan who loved a vampire.

"I don't know how many of you have ever interacted with one another over the centuries, but I estimate that after Lucian and Sonja and before Michael and myself, there must have been more of you who fell in love with a member of the opposite great coven. And yet you had to either hide your love or break off contact forever. The world Lucian sees, and that Michael and Maya and I see, is a world where that is not a necessity. Where we are not fighting one another and hiding true love that will never happen with another soul instead of enjoying it and experiencing the utmost joy and peace. It ends _today_."

It was Maya's turn again. "We know there has been a lot of bloodshed. There was a lot of death tonight on both sides, and throughout the ages. That pain will not be forgotten, but it can be healed. If you let that pain rule over you there will just be more death until there are only a few vampires or Lycans left. Where will the great covens be then? It might be now that you can all finally meet your lover, best friend, extended family, and more. It might be now that you discover _one_ great and strong community. We will have new leadership, and new life. We all have descended in one way or another by blood or creation from Alexander Corvinus, and he has foreseen and desired for centuries that we would be one. His sons Markus and William were a vampire and a werewolf, and they were corrupt, but they loved one another. Wrong as it was, they sought domination _together_; werewolf and vampire, side by side. Now _we_ will seek peace together. Now, you will all reconvene inside the mansion, and you will choose your new council- together. The council will be made up of six vampires and six Lycans. Or, if there are more Hybrids in existence than just Michael right now, then it will be made up of four vampires, four Lycans and four Hybrids."

In stunned silence, they all stood there, until two vampires walked toward the mansion with a Lycan. They looked out at the group standing before Maya and Selene and nodded, and then three more Lycans and another vampire walked forward. One by one, they all began to follow. Pierce and Taylor were the last two standing other than me, Michael, Selene and Maya.

"Are you coming?" Taylor asked.

"We were hoping you'd be on the council, but you'd better get in there now."

"No," I said gently, smiling. "My will here is done. My place is by Maya's side now. We will return to the United States."

"Lucian, you've done so much for us. I'd like to see you rewarded for that," Taylor insisted.

"This is my reward, knowing that you are all safe and well, and that your lives will be forever changed for the best. I can now be with my beloved and not feel guilty for my own happiness, because you have a chance for your own. I am more than rewarded, my friend. Perhaps you and Pierce should get in there and see if you'll become council members. There's much to discuss for your futures."

Taylor nodded, and so did Pierce.

"Thanks for everything," Pierce said.

"You're welcome. And thank you, both of you."

They both nodded, and ran inside.

"I think you'd better go in too, both of you," I urged Michael and Selene.

"I'm a warrior, not a bureaucrat," Selene asserted.

"It's a new era now. Make that known. I don't think there will likely be another Kraven anytime soon, Selene, especially you," I assured her.

She smiled vaguely, and nodded. "Alright, I'll do it, _if_ they elect me. Thank you, Lucian. Thank you for biting Michael and showing him the truth of the past. Thank you for throwing yourself into changing our world. And thank you, Maya. Will I ever see you again?"

"Well it's not my intention to come back here, I can't really afford to often."

"It's just that I would hate to lose contact with you. You feel almost like a sister to me, as odd as that sounds for an emotionally distant vampire to say. I know I don't know you. That's how it feels though. True, I once actually had a sister, and in a way Sonja felt like a sister to me too when I learned of her, but she's dead now, and she was dead long before my family was. You're all I have now."

I looked at Maya meaningfully and nodded, and she smiled. I encouraged her to continue her relationship with her newfound ally and sister.

"Okay, I'll come back when I can," Maya agreed. "I promise. Now go in there and embrace these changes we've made!"

She nodded. "Thank you. Good bye, Maya, good bye Lucian."

"Good bye," I echoed with Maya.

"Bye guys," Michael said. Then he and Selene headed for the mansion hand-in-hand.

"Oh, and Lucian?" Selene called.

"Yes?"

"You stabbed my shoulder." She grinned a little.

"I know," I said solemnly. "And I'm sorry."

"Ancient history now, I suppose." She smiled, and turned around.

We stared after our allies for a few moments in awed silence, and then I was overcome with emotions.

"Maya," I sobbed, unable to contain the tears that flowed from my eyes now. "My darling, you're here…"

"Yes," she whispered. "We're both okay, and we're both going to be together for a very, very long time."

I kissed her with such intense passion that was brimming over from what felt like a century since our last kiss. My hands brushed down her sides to her hips, and my lips grazed her neck ever so slightly as the tears of overwhelming joy and relief continued to flow. We pressed together as tightly as we could manage. Her warm, immaculate and immortal breath was exquisite. I pulled away to gaze into her brown eyes for a long, long time, her loving and tender gaze returning mine as she wiped away my tears. She kissed me again, and let it linger, her arms wrapping around me and intertwining in my hair. Just then, the sun broke over the horizon, and as it rose, the bodies of the dead vampires burnt before our eyes. We both kept especial watch over Viktor's body as it was charred beyond recognition. Soon the new council would bury the bodies of the dead Lycans, and gravestones would nonetheless be set for the dead vampires.

"He won't hurt you or any other Lycan ever again," Maya said to me gently as I watched Viktor's corpse burn, her hand upon my shoulder.

I turned around to look at her. "And he'll never be able to hurt you. He'll never take you away from me." I pulled her to me and held her close to my heart, weeping once last time out of relief, and I let her kiss all of the pain and the fear away. She would be my Maya forever now, and nothing could stand in the way of that. Not only that, but she was now my beautiful Lycan, and my fierce warrior.

"Come with me," I urged suddenly, a smile crawling across my face.

"Where?" she asked giddily, with a smile that made my heart soar.

"You'll see," I winked.

"Where are we going?" she asked again, giggling.

I pulled on her hand, urging her to follow. "I have an engagement gift for you!" I blurted, not wanting to give away any more of my sudden surprise idea. I wouldn't be able to say that I had nothing to give my future wife anymore. I knew how to get the perfect ring for Maya.

A/N: Since this is a few chapters away from wrapping up, be on the lookout for either a sequel or a prequel. I'm going to write both eventually, but I haven't decided which I'm going to write first. As promised, I will post my playlist in my author's notes at the end of the story. Please review, please please please, and thank you for your faithful reading!


	19. Longevity

**Chapter 19- Longevity**

We traveled through a forest by foot until we came to a large clearing. Lucian scanned the area with his eyes until he found what he was looking for, and I simply looked at him with a quizzical and amused look as he dragged me over to a random mound in the middle of the clearing.

"A long time ago, not long after Kraven set the old Lycan abode ablaze, I spared some of my blacksmith's tools in case I would need them, and I buried them," he said, a nostalgic look on his face. "I never needed any of them, until now."

"What for?" I asked.

"I am going to make your engagement ring before your very eyes. I don't have a stone to set in it like modern rings, but…"

"But it'll be personalized and hand-made," I finished, touched and with tears brimming in my eyes.

"Yes." He smiled. "And I have everything I need to heat and mold the metal, and enough scraps of metal to make a weapon if I needed to; there's no need to worry about materials. I can make you a silver ring. As a blacksmith I can mold several metals."

"Then I guess you have a bit of silversmith in you, too," I mused.

"Yes, I suppose so."

"Wait- and the silver won't…"

"No," he laughed. "We can touch silver. It's only a problem once it's lodged somewhere in a Lycan's flesh or deeper."

I watched in silent amazement as Lucian heated the metal and worked it by the processes of forging, drawing and bending. His fingers moved nimbly with the small tools he was working with to weave five long and thin pieces of silver together complexly into a thick band. My eyes darted between his fingers working artfully and his face, deep in concentration. Now and then he would meet my gaze, and the intensity of the love burning in his eyes was almost too much to bear. I could see the longing in his face for me, and my ache to put my arms around him grew and grew as the hours passed. He worked through the afternoon and into the early evening as the sun began to go down, shaping each woven strand of silver to perfection as he intertwined each piece. Each time he flexed a muscle amidst his work, and each time he looked at me with the tenderness I'd grown to appreciate so deeply, my heart would flutter like crazy. Nearby, he set a fire so that I could keep warm. Once he was done, he set the ring down on an anvil.

"Now we just need to let the ring cool, and then you can wear it," he said eagerly.

"I can't wait," I said smiling, my heart pounding anxiously. Our engagement was about to be solidified! He joined me at the fire, and sat next to me. The fire caught the reddish tints in Lucian's hair and cropped beard just perfectly in the warm glow, and his cheeks were flushed as the heat rushed to his slightly golden skin. Though the metal had been hot that he'd worked with and the air around him too, the fire was even warmer. He was so vital, and so perfect before my eyes. I had seen him in a whole new light amidst battle against Viktor. It's true he was fighting for all of the Lycans, but he was mostly fighting to protect _me_ in there. He was right that I'd seen a different side of him, but just as I knew it wouldn't, it hadn't bothered me at all. Lycans were indeed fearsome creatures when they transformed, but not Lucian. To me, even in that state, he just seemed majestic, powerful and strong, and I did not fear him. He was still my Lucian, and even in battle in his human form, I did not fear him. His fierceness was just as attractive of a quality as any of his others.

His face was full of emotion as I appraised him, appreciating every inch of him, and every depth of him. He searched my eyes, and seemed to be doing the same. Every nerve he touched tingled as he stroked his thumb through the locks of hair around my ear, down my cheek and to my neck. He smiled wistfully, and spoke softly.

"Maya, you saved me in that mansion today. You saved my life at the risk of your own. Why?"

"Because Viktor would have killed you, and because I love you," I said, confused by the sadness that seemed to taint his expression and his tone. "I couldn't let you go. I couldn't let you _die_."

"Did it give you extra confidence knowing that you were Corvinus' prophesized?"

I looked at him incomprehensibly. "What do you mean?"

"Did you jump under the dagger only because you knew you would live and were meant to be immortal?

My heart sank to the floor. Had he truly thought that all of this time? My eyes squinted ever so slightly with sadness that he had thought that at all. "Lucian, I didn't know _how_ I would become a Lycan, I just knew that I would. It didn't occur to me that this was how it was going to happen until the dagger was already twisted in my side. I also didn't even know I was the prophesized Lycan at all until I was on the way to the mansion and Selene told me that she had the same prophetic vision and dream the night before, and that it was me she saw with her. When I saw Viktor raise that dagger over your heart, I reacted by instinct, not out of hunger to be transformed and immortal. I didn't even have time to think about what I was doing. All I saw was that I had one shot to find something, anything, to get between that dagger and _you_, and my body was all I had. And if my body as a shield was the last thing I had to give to you so that you would live, then so be it. I would give you every last thing I have to give, even my own life." I took his hands into mine. "I didn't do this just so I could have immortality. I knew that I had a prophecy, and therefore a duty to fulfill, but my first and foremost duty is to you, and even had I had no knowledge that I'd be transformed and survive that, I would have given my life for you regardless. I love you," I said, starting to cry. "The truth is I didn't save you; _you_ saved _me_. You saved me… so I couldn't let you die."

"Maya, my love, I'm sorry. I don't even know why I asked… please forgive me," he whispered, tears streaming down his face. "I owe you my life and my gratitude, not my suspicion. But you are truly the one who has saved me. You gave life back to me emotionally. I was just a shell walking for centuries until you came along. You gave me a reason to keep going when I thought there was nothing left for me in the almost millennium I've lived. And I love you too." He kissed me penitently. "Wait here one moment," he said, and he walked over to the anvil.

He returned with the ring, and slid it gently onto my left ring finger, his eyes gazing into mine, and once again I was amazed with his beautiful and accurate craftsmanship. Not only was the weaving pattern of the ring flawless, but his eye had detected my exact ring size. It was neither too snug, nor too loose. I took a moment to admire the ring.

"It's perfect," I declared, touched to the core that he had chosen to create my ring with his own two hands. It meant more to me than any other ring in existence.

He took my hand and kissed each fingertip lightly, setting every nerve ending ablaze with unfettered, unabashed passion that I'd been longing to release. "You're perfect. You are an angel who has given me everything. You've bestowed on me a love so perfect I don't even know if I deserve it. And I want you to know that my life, literally my life, is yours. If ever the need arises to protect you that way, I would gladly give my life for you as you nearly did for me."

And with that he kissed me full on the mouth. His tongue grazed my lips lightly, and our breaths came out in aroused and slightly chilled shudders. Even amidst the cold, a safe distance off from the fire, we took all of our clothing off, and Lucian laid them down into a sort of makeshift blanket. He laid me down softly, kissing me the whole way down as he supported my neck. I could feel my pulse rising as his lips made their way down my neck, his hands moving around everywhere. I ran my fingers through his hair with my right hand and let my left hand run up his back softly, causing him to shiver at my touch. He pulled me up into a sitting position as each kiss became more desperate, more ardent than the last. We inched as close together as we could manage until at last we were one, and slowly rocked back and forth. Every moan that escaped his mouth made me rock faster, breathing his name, and he gladly increased his tempo to match mine until at last we released, our shouts of pleasure and each other's names unheard in the still of the night. To be so wholly alone with him that night, especially after all that time that we'd been surrounded by nothing but danger, was such a gift. We'd both been able to be louder than ever before without neighbors or anyone around for miles. We were both still breathing heavily and kissing for a few moments afterward until the last waves subsided to a small tingle. The chill of the night began to settle upon our sweat-coated bodies, and Lucian tenderly rubbed his hands up and down my back, holding me as close to his body as he could to keep me warm.

I looked into his eyes blissfully, playing with the ends of his hair absently. He smiled and leaned his forehead into mine, and I realized I was smiling too, from ear to ear. The saying would have seemed so facetious and ridiculous at any other point in my life, but there really seemed to be no other way to describe how largely I smiled every time I saw Lucian, and whenever I was with him. It occurred to me that except for when I'd first run into the mansion and when I'd run off down the corridors to take out the council members of the vampire coven, we hadn't been apart since Lucian had first told me he was a Lycan, and we'd probably never be apart from each other's side ever again. I couldn't even imagine ever being apart from him now.

"Are you happy?" he asked me, his expression soft and earnest.

"Yes. I am incredibly happy, Lucian," I declared, never taking my eyes off of his. "I've never been this happy before."

"And so am I, my darling Maya. The happiest I've ever been."

I felt safer than I had ever felt before. Not only did I have a powerful Lycan looking out for my safety, but I was also a powerful Lycan myself; I was _incredibly_ powerful.

"Maya, do you want to stay a Lycan forever, or do you want to go back to being a mortal?"

The question he asked me caught me off guard. It was an incredibly good question.

"Gosh, I never even thought about that. Well, it almost seems like I was born to be a Lycan if there was something prophesized about me a long time ago, but on the other hand I don't know if I have a moral obligation to turn back or not." I paused. I knew he couldn't decide for me, but maybe knowing how he felt would help me decide. Whatever we chose I wouldn't want to be the opposite anyway. "What do you want to be?"

"I had wanted so badly to be a mortal and let my life finally end once Sonja was dead. I felt I had lived enough years after eight hundred years had passed by without feeling much purpose or joy anymore, day after day droning on as lifelessly as the last. I felt there was no need to live forever anymore. Then I met you. I figured especially after I met you and fell so deeply in love with you that I couldn't watch your entire life pass me by and have you eventually leave this world and I be left behind to live alone yet again- forever. So I had every intention of continuing the anecdote. But now that you are immortal too, perhaps I am greedy and selfish for this, but I would like to embrace this immortality once again to live a very, very long life with you, Maya. I feel like eternity isn't enough now that I've been given the chance to love again."

I smiled at him, and felt that I knew what I wanted to do now. "Well, the way I see it, we could always stay immortal and use that immortality for good things as long as we live, and protect the Lycan species when needed, and our vampire brethren. We could always help keep the peace and intervene when we have to. One day, maybe centuries, maybe millennia from now, if we decide the time is finally right to age and die, then we'll take the anecdote at that time together. Then we'll just age like two regular humans and at the same rate and the same time. I'm almost thirty years old, and you look like you would be roughly that age too, even though you were never one hundred percent human to begin with and aged slightly to this point at a different and finite rate. We don't ever have to decide on mortality until or if we feel the time is right."

He kissed me intensely. "I think we can both agree on that. We will decide together when it's our time to go."

"Either way, our souls will be together forever."

"Then I do believe it's time for us to return home to Seattle and start our life together. We'll go to Singe's old laboratory where my instructions to make the anecdote are stored. I'll make a set for me and a set for you for when we choose to use them; they'll be ready."

I nodded. "Okay. Oh, and I could really use a shower. It's been days," I said, making a face. "I kind of reek after having hot, sweaty, nearly full moon Lycan sex, and engaging in vampire-on-Lycan combat."

He laughed. "I do smell rather foul myself. Alright, we'll get a hotel room for one night so that we can freshen up."

Suddenly I stopped as we were walking back to the city. "Oh crap! I haven't worked in at least a week now! I work from home, and I haven't done a thing since I've met you. I should call my boss from the hotel too. I have a deadline coming up that I hope I can make with some of the large sets of documents I'm translating. And I have a mortgage payment coming up…"

"You know, you could always move in with me," he said, his face shaping into a grin. "You're over there half of the time anyway, and our houses are a backyard away from one another. Plus, I have the added bonus of you being my fiancée. One day soon we'll have to pick a house anyway, and mine will be fully paid for when we return."

I grinned too. "And you could use a little decoration in your house…"

"It's settled then."

I jumped into his arms and squeezed him tightly. "It's more than settled. We'll have a home together, Lucian. I can't wait," I whispered, laying my head on his chest for a moment and listening to his heartbeat, thankful that it was still beating and that Viktor had not cruelly taken him from me.

When we got back to the Lycan's hideaway, Lucian led me back to the laboratory, and he started to make the anecdotes for us right away after pulling out his briefcase from hiding and locating Singe's instructions.

"Wow, I didn't even see you sneak it in here," I marveled.

"That was the idea. That ensured that it was completely safe."

"Do you mind if I take it with me for a moment? There's something I have to get while I'm here," I said, trying to conceal my smile, an idea forming in my mind impulsively.

He looked at me in puzzlement, understandably not comprehending what I could possibly need in a city I'd never even been to before, but his eyes were trusting nonetheless. I appraised his body for a moment, memorizing his frame and its shape. "Alright..."

"Oh and don't book any flights back to America until I say you can."

"Actually because of the anecdotes it would be best if we travelled by boat so that we don't look too suspicious. Up in the air they would find two people carrying chemicals on board extremely dangerous."

"Okay. Well don't make any arrangements for us to leave just yet," I said, trying to contain my excitement.

"What are you planning?" he asked, grinning now. I obviously had not done a good job of being secretive and had given away that I had a plan.

"I'll meet you here in an hour or an hour and a half or so! Just get the anecdotes finished to occupy yourself."

I kissed him on his lips, lingering for a moment, and scuttled off into the city, my heart leaping with joy. I ran as fast as I could, and searched around until finally I found a bridal shop, and conveniently a tuxedo rental place right next door. Next, after I was finished with figuring out measurements and making my selection, I just had to find the nearest cathedral and find a priest who was willing to perform a last-minute ceremony.

A/N: Last chance for any sort of input on whether you'd prefer me to write my sequel, or to write my prequel next after this! I've already started on the prequel, but I'll have the story perfectly set up for the sequel if you want me to do that first. REVIEW and let me know!

And on the technical side, CAN werewolves/Lycans touch silver? Or is it completely off limits? I need to change what the engagement ring is made of if it's lethal or weakening for them to even touch/wear silver.


	20. Binding

**Chapter 20- Binding**

Bent over chemicals, I worked diligently on the anecdote to copy precisely what Singe had produced. My mind was reeling with the possibilities of what Maya had planned, but I came up with nothing. She had a very mischievous look on her face, so I knew it wasn't something dangerous, but I wondered what she would need an indefinite amount of money for. She had been gone for two hours now, and as I finished up month five of the anecdote I began to pace before returning to the final month's worth, only able to think of where she could be. I had already reserved our hotel room, and I was anxious to know that Maya was safe so we could retire for the evening. The thought of recluse away from the world with Maya again was so inviting and comforting, and I had grown more impatient with each vial to be reunited with her. Even since she'd walked out of the laboratory I had already grown weary in her absence. Restlessly I continued to pace, my eyes fixed on the door.

Suddenly Maya burst through the door, her face aglow. She was grinning, her eyes were wide and sparkling even in the harsh fluorescent light and her cheeks were rosy pink against her light peach skin. Behind her back were two garment bags and a small boutique paper bag, as well as the briefcase. I looked at her quizzically.

"You'd better not be doing anything at ten A.M. tomorrow," she commanded good-naturedly, her face flushed with excitement.

"What else would I be doing besides spending my time with you?" I asked, smiling. My curiosity threatened to get the best of me. "Come on; let's get you a nice shower back at the hotel."

Back at the hotel, after we had both had scrubbed off days' worth of the grime of not showering, we changed into clean clothing and collapsed into bed, exhausted from walking most places. Finally the effects of intense battle and our intimacy thereafter had worn our bodies out. As my eyelids closed, I breathed in her scent, taking it in for a moment. Her soft, even breaths soothed me, and I stroked her hair and cheeks. I had memorized her every curve, and I needed not to open my eyes. Despite my exhaustion, my curiosity pulled me to get up and see what was in Maya's garment bags. I dared not pull the zippers down, but I felt their weight and what little of the textures I could ascertain. The one on the left felt slightly stiff as though it had two parts and leggings. It seemed to be a suit. The other was light and bent easily to drape over my hand. It seemed to be one piece and quite long, but not to the floor when worn. It was most likely a dress. What could she have planned that required formal wear for the morning? Most formal events I had ever heard of, even being uninformed of the rituals and norms of the human world as a Lycan, took place in the evening. I sighed. I'd best not ruin the surprise. Whatever it was, the mere thought made Maya light up as much as whenever she saw _me_. I smiled. It was something grossly important to her, then. Maya had gone to bed with strange bubble-like rolls in her hair, and they were very large. She said they were curlers, and these particular large ones were to simply make her hair look wavy. She wanted to look beautiful for tomorrow. I thought she always looked breath-taking, but I did not argue. Rather, I would let her enjoy whatever she'd planned for us to the fullest.

I slept serenely that night for the first time in a while, as my guilt for abandoning my brethren was lifted, Maya knew my identity and had accepted it, and _loved_ me, and she had survived the deadliest battle and transformation ever to a mortal. I'd overcome the worst obstacles I'd been facing as of late. My heart felt light as I realized the most beautiful truth of all- I had overcome eight hundred years' worth of grief and managed to find the truest love with this wonderful woman next to me.

I awoke with the sun in my eyes, and sat up, realizing Maya wasn't next to me. From the bathroom, I caught sight of her taking her curlers out gingerly, one by one. She was wearing a light pink silk slip, and the sight of her long, chestnut waves cascading down her back coupled with her tantalizing attire aroused me immediately. I longed to touch her so deeply. She caught me staring in the mirror and turned around, smiling. She sauntered over to the garment bag on the left, zipping it down and proving me right; it was a suit.

"This is for you," she said grinning. "Wear it for this morning."

"Can you tell me what's going on?" I asked, thoroughly amused.

"No. Just trust me. If you don't want to, uh, participate when you get there, then I won't hold you to it," she said, suddenly serious. "I would never force you into something you don't want to do."

"I'm sure whatever you've planned I will happily oblige to participate in." I smiled and kissed her; confident and anticipating the wildest adventure, and then I undressed and put the suit on. A look I couldn't quite read crossed her face; it looked like a mix between pride, love, and I wasn't sure what else. I felt like I'd seen that kind of look before, but I couldn't place it. She straightened my collar tenderly.

"I hope this isn't bad luck," she whispered, a twinkle in her eye.

"You hope what isn't bad luck?"

"Seeing you in your suit."

"Why would that be bad luck?" I asked, confused. She ran a comb through my hair quickly but deftly.

"I guess it's just if the guy sees the girl in the dress." She shrugged, not answering my question. "Meet me back at the forest. I promise all of your questions will be answered." She kissed me, and then ushered me out the door so that she could finish dressing herself.

I hitched a ride with a mortal, against my better judgment- I preferred not to interact with mortals for the most part- to a closer walking point to the forest, avoiding his curious stares and his question if I was going to a wedding. And then as I was walking to the clearing near the forest, it dawned on me. _Had_ she arranged a wedding ceremony for us? It would explain her fear of my non-willingness to comply; she wanted me to be ready for this, which I _was_. In fact, my eyes welled with tears when I realized that she was this enthusiastic and anxious to bind our lives together that she wouldn't even wait. And then I was able to place that look in her eyes as she'd straightened my collar. I'd seen that same look eight centuries ago- it was the look of a bride; the look for which there were no adequate words to describe the emotions her face displayed. In every sense of the word I was _hers_. Just then, I spotted a priest making his way toward me.

"Are you Lucian?" he inquired.

"Yes, I am."

"Do you know what is happening?"

"I'm beginning to comprehend, yes," I replied, smiling.

The priest smiled, too. "How grand weddings are. And the surprise hasn't deterred you. That says a lot. I can tell that you two are meant for each other and will last through the trials of time."

I wiped a tear away. "Yes. Yes, we are meant to be together." My voice was thick with emotion. "A marriage to this woman is an honor that one doesn't walk away from."

"Come over here, my son. Maya has instructed us to wait under this cove under the trees for her to process toward you."

Her taste was sublime. Under the thick canopy of deciduous trees came a small clearing overhead just big enough to cast a stream of golden sunlight through. It lit the ground where the priest and I stood, poking through in various spots. The illumination upon me was almost surreal as I awaited my bride.

"She apologizes that everything was so spur of the moment, but she has instructed me that she purposely arranged for you to have enough time to think over your vows before she arrives. She says there is no paper or memorization necessary. Just give it good thought first and speak from the heart."

I nodded, struggling again with tender tears of unfamiliar joy. I hadn't been able to feel like this in a long, long time, and it was truly a gift that I'd found someone to experience love with once again. I stood there in reverent, humbled silence at this woman's complete and whole trust in me, and contemplated what I would vow to her for an eternity of love. I closed my eyes, feeling the sunshine's warmth as soothing as the warmth of Maya's heart, and the words came to me. Several moments later when I opened my eyes, she was there a distance away, waiting for me- waiting for an indication that it was time for her to close that small gap of space between us.

She looked like an angel, dressed not in white but in a light cerulean blue, the color of the morning's radiant sky. Her neckline was a simple straight one, the bodice had vertical gather lines, and it reached down to three inches past her knees, but not to the floor. The edges were in layers of jagged flaps all the way around, and similar jagged flaps of the same gauzy material the dress was made of draped around her shoulders. In her hair she wore a simple wreath of tiny pale purple, yellow and orange flowers. Around her neck she wore a choker two inches wide made of a gossamer material with a simple silver medallion fastened in the front of it. Upon her left ring finger she still wore her engagement ring. On her feet were dainty, light blue slippers of a silken material. Her beauty was ethereal, with long waves of brown hair down her back. The sunlight in the large open clearing where she stood, away from where the forest began, caught her hair like it had the first day I saw her through my kitchen window. My heart palpitated, and I felt utterly unworthy of her.

I nodded earnestly, my eyes wide with anticipation. She smiled, and processed slowly toward me, her dress billowing slightly, but not dramatically, with her every step. Out of seemingly nowhere, Michael had appeared, presumably to serve as our witness. I nodded at him, and he did, too. We both smiled.

Maya stopped and stood on the priest's right side, facing me. I shook my head, grinning, and trying to fight the overwhelming tears so I could speak.

"You were afraid I wouldn't want to marry you?"

She grinned back sheepishly. "I planned it so fast and without your knowledge. I wasn't sure if you'd need time. We just got engaged. I was so excited though when the idea came to me. I just couldn't wait to be your wife."

"Yes. Engaged to be _married_. I couldn't be more ready for that."

"Oh, Lucian!" she cried.

"So let's get married," I urged earnestly, smiling.

"Yes, let's get married," she echoed euphorically.

The priest did all of the standard wedding ceremony practices, and then it was time for us to say our individually-written vows. Maya spoke first.

"Lucian, from day one when we met, we were both in a lot of pain. We both also selflessly recognized that pain in one another. We both accepted each other when we weren't feeling our best and did all that we could to comfort each other; and it worked, because it was out of love, and the desire to see the other whole. A few things happened that caused me to not trust you, but you proved me wrong, and yourself to be trustworthy ever since, and I chose to trust you wholly. The only time I ever doubted you was because of a misunderstanding early on, and I know full well now how trustworthy you are. I vow to you today to trust you always with my life, my pain, and everything. I vow to always do my best to comfort your pain and help you to feel whole. I vow to stand by your side when you're in the fight of, or for, your life. I vow to always be faithful to you, and I vow that you are the only one I will _ever_ love this much. I vow to do good by your side and _with_ you in this world. And I vow that we will live a good and beautiful life together, for as long as we _do_ live."

It was effortless to vow all I was about to vow to her; I felt like she was infinitely deserving of anything I could give her for the long remainder of our lives.

"Maya, my darling, my life, my love, my reason; I have much to vow to you, for no other is as deserving of all that I have to give. Though you are quite capable of protecting me when you're needed to, and I trust you completely to, I vow that I will protect you the majority of the time as a husband should. I vow that if you need anything from me, you only need but ask. I vow to trust you as you trust me. I vow to help you through your darkest hours, so that you needn't shoulder them alone. I cannot even begin to describe to you how happy you make me, so I vow to try to make you just as happy, so that you _know_ how I feel, and so that you need not feel pain all too often throughout this life. I don't know how long we shall live," I eyed her meaningfully, and she silently acknowledged what I meant, "but I do know that however long or short time endures for us, that I will be the best man and husband to you that I can be. Though I was alone well before, I have forsaken all women the moment I saw you, and I vow that I will never desire anyone but you for all of time."

The priest pronounced us married, and we let our kiss linger as he and Michael faded into the background. I let the tears free fall now, and I stroked Maya's cheeks that were streaked with her own tears as our tongues grazed each other's lightly. I was hungry for more of her; _all_ of her, and I struggled to pull away, remembering once again that we had a small audience.

"Congratulations to the both of you. I will mail your marriage document to the specified address if you'll both and your witness sign the certificate."

We all signed, and the priest and Michael made their way back to the city after Michael said his congratulations. Maya turned to me, and my heart burned with the ache to take her where we stood. I couldn't make myself do it though, as she looked so sublime in her wedding dress. I wanted to stare at her like this forever, and I also wanted to see her immaculate body unclothed and trace every curve once over with my fingers and twice over with my tongue. The sight of one's beloved bride makes them both want to patiently wait and impatiently give way to the strongest urge all at the same time; the feelings were overpowering. Logic, if there were any in love and arousal, won over as I took in her beauty before me. I memorized every detail of her dress, her eyes, her hair, her face, and her figure. I memorized the wreath of flowers in her hair, her shoes, and her necklace. I memorized her engagement ring and I memorized the forest. I memorized her and I memorized this day. With arms outstretched we held hands, staring into one another's eyes.

"Thank you for choosing me, I breathed.

"Thank you for loving me," she returned.

Just then the sound of fast-paced footsteps approached, and we turned to see Michael and Selene running toward us.

"We need your help," Selene announced in a slightly panicked tone.

My face dropped. "What is it?"

"It's the wife of Alexander Corvinus, Évike. She stormed in and broke up one of the first meetings of the new council with an army of pure-bred werewolves and vampires, most likely whom she turned herself. She wants to avenge Alexander, Markus and William's deaths. The statuses of the other ten council members are currently unknown."

_NO_, I whispered to myself. "So you two were elected." I smiled for a moment. "Alright, you'll have to fill us in on everything, down to the last detail."

Just then, Maya began to undo the clasps of her dress at the sound of snarling and many heavy approaching footsteps.

"They're not ruining my damn wedding dress," she hissed. "Lucian, you've seen me naked dozens of times. Selene, you're a woman, too. Michael, sorry."

There was no time for modesty. She threw the dress up into a tree and her undergarments onto the ground, and let the rage take hold as she transformed before our very eyes. I followed her example with urgency and removed my suit in preparation to morph. In the middle of the sunlit morning, the fierce snarls of the Lycan warrior princess ripped through the forest, reverberating off of every available tree. Évike's army approached, but the four of us were ready, and Maya was bloodthirsty. To anger a lovesick Lycan bride and threaten her groom was to open a threshold of hellfire in defense of all she held dear. And I would surely pay for my critical mistakes from centuries ago in an exchange that had clearly gone wrong as they charged full force towards my friends and my bride …

A/N: They seem to have surprisingly easy access to this forest. Oh well, lol. :) I'm all for wearing a wedding dress that isn't white. It's not my thing, but there are so many people who can pull it off and it looks AWESOME. Évike is a Hungarian name for "life." Considering that she wants to avenge her family's lives, it's a bit of an oxymoron to name her that, but it'll make more sense in my sequel. ;) Read on, loyal readers.

Also this is your LAST CHANCE to give any input on whether you'd like to see my prequel or my sequel next; otherwise I'm just going to decide. So without further adieu, here is my playlist for this fanfic. I thought these had very appropriate and fitting lyrics.

Chapter 1- Billy Joel- "River of Dreams"

Chapter 2- Foo Fighters- "Best of You," Linkin Park- "Numb," Three Days Grace- "Just Like You," Staind- "Mudshovel," Systematic- "They Say (My Soul Was Lost)," Stone Sour- "Bother," Alice in Chains- "Man in the Box"

Chapter 3- Goo Goo Dolls- "Name"

Chapter 4- The Eagles- "Desperado," P.O.D. - "Alive"

Chapter 5- The Black Crowes- "Hard to Handle," Foo Fighters- "Everlong"

Chapter 6- Buckcherry- "Don't Go Away," The Animals- "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"

Chapter 7- Kendall Payne- "Scratch"

Chapter 8- Dave Matthews Band- "American Baby," Ozzy Osbourne- "Bark at the Moon"

Chapter 9- Gavin McGraw- "Follow Through"

Chapter 10- Coldplay- "Trouble"

Chapter 11- Shinedown- "Devour"

Chapter 12- The Black Crowes- "She Talks to Angels"

Chapter 13- Soundgarden- "Pretty Noose"

Chapter 14- The Damning Well- "Awakening"

Chapter 15- Jem- "24"

Chapter 16- Shinedown- "Cry for Help," Soil- "Deny Me," Systematic- "Breakable"

Chapter 17- Soil- "Pride," Finch- "Bitemarks and Bloodstains," Shinedown- "Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide," 3 Doors Down- "It's Not My Time," Systematic- "Infected"

Chapter 18- Bad Religion- "Sorrow" (Acoustic Version), Blaqk Audio- "Stiff Kittens," AFI- "Miss Murder"

Chapter 19- Metallica- "Nothing Else Matters"

Chapter 20- Death Cab for Cutie- "I Will Follow You into the Dark"

As irony would have it, it turns out the Blaqk Audio and the AFI songs are both on the "Rise of the Lycans" soundtrack! Weird! Some of these songs could kind of apply to more than one chapter, too. This is all subjective anyway, just songs that came to mind as I read chapters.


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